Pollution can increase the risk of severe symptoms of Covid

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Air pollution is recorded to kill at least 4 million people every year. During a pandemic, air pollution is a factor that increases the risk of symptom severity in COVID-19 patients. Pollution exacerbates the morbidity and risk of death.

In addition to affecting the health of people who have long breathed polluted air, experts suspect that air pollution particles could also be a more massive transmission route for COVID-19.

Air pollution increases the risk of worsening symptoms in COVID-19 patients

In one study, researchers from Harvard University found that the slightest increase in the content of polluting particles in the air could increase the risk of death in COVID-19 positive patients.

In the study, researchers conducted observations in 3,080 regions in the United States. Researchers found that COVID-19 patients who have lived 15-20 years in high-pollution areas have a higher mortality potential than low-pollution areas.

The risk of dying from COVID-19 is even greater in areas with pollution levels of PM 2.5 that exceed the threshold. However these studies have not been peer reviewed (peer review).

"The evidence we have is pretty clear, patients who live in more polluted areas for a long time are more likely to die from the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)," said Aaron Bernstein, director of the Center for Global Climate, Health and Environment at Harvard University.

The World Health Organization (WHO) guideline figures set the safe threshold for PM 2.5 at 25 micrograms / m3 within 24 hours. Meanwhile, Jakarta during the last few years has always had a pollution content of PM 2.5 that exceeds the safe threshold set by WHO.

Today is Sunday (6/9) for example, AirVisual noted that Jakarta's PM 2.5 pollution figure is at 69.6 micrograms / m3.

"You can choose any city in the world and expect to see the effect air pollution has on the risk of people getting sicker from COVID-19," Aaron Bernstein.

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What is PM 2.5 pollution and how does it affect COVID-19 patients?

Particulate matter (PM), PM is pollution particles that can enter blood vessels and lungs. Contact with PM can cause irritation problems to the eyes, throat, lungs, and may cause breathing problems. These pollution particles can also interfere with lung function and worsen the health conditions of people with asthma and heart disease.

PM 2.5 measures 2.5 micrometers, which is about 10 times smaller than a strand of human hair. It is so small and invisible that it can penetrate the surgical masks or cloth masks that we usually wear.

Xiao Wu, lead researcher in the study, said the increased risk of death in COVID-19 patients living in high-polluted areas was linked to respiratory disease and heart disease.

Various studies have proven the dangers of air pollution on the health of the human body. Exposure to air pollution puts people at higher risk of developing lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes and even premature death.

Air pollution can also cause hypertension, diabetes and respiratory diseases. These three diseases are identified as some of the main causes of worsening symptoms and the risk of death from COVID-19.

Apart from causing a number of respiratory infection problems, air pollution can reduce a person's immune system. This weak immune system can jeopardize a person's ability to fight infection and disease.

This is the reason breathing polluted air can make symptoms worse for patients infected with COVID-19.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, air pollution was also associated with the risk of symptom severity in SARS patients (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which became an epidemic in 2003-2014. The study said SARS patients who had lived in polluted areas for a long time were 84% more likely to die than patients in low-polluted areas.