An aerial view shows low visibility due to air pollution in Mexico City, on March 30, 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images)

At a Glance

Recent analysis from Europe, the U.S. and China shows “compelling” evidence that air pollution significantly increases COVID-19 infections, hospital admissions and deaths. The study suggests that even a small increase in air pollution exposure raises infections substantially.An important factor in the comprehensive study was the outbreak in the Netherlands, where pollution and COVID-19 infections are worse in rural areas.

Recent analysis from Europe, the U.S. and China show “compelling” evidence that air pollution significantly increases COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

The study suggests that even a small increase in air pollution exposure raises infections substantially. , “a small, single-unit increase in people’s long-term exposure to pollution particles raises infections and admissions by about 10% and deaths by 15%.”

An important factor was the outbreak in the Netherlands, where pollution is worse in rural areas than in cities, due to livestock farming, and COVID-19 infections soared. Studying cases in polluted areas that are not a big city rules out the idea that high air pollution coincides with urban density and deprivation.

Air pollution damages the heart and lungs and is linked to respiratory and heart disease. Those with pre-existing heart and lung conditions are vulnerable to severe COVID-19 infection, and scientists are finding that air pollution is likely to be increasing the severity of those infections as well.

“If your respiratory system — your nose, esophagus, lungs — aren’t healthy, you can’t fight against the pandemic. And you need everything you have to fight against COVID-19,” Angela Tin, the national senior director of the American Lung Association, .

Researchers have been linking air pollution to worsening outbreaks since the beginning of the pandemic, and some have suggested that pollution particles may also ease transmission, , according to BBC.

Scientists are careful to say that they have not yet proven a causal link between air pollution and worse COVID-19 outbreaks, and that more research is needed.