The 2020 California wildfire season coincided with the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic affecting many counties in California, with impacts on air quality. We quantitatively analyzed the short-term effect of air pollution on COVID-19 transmission using county-level data collected during the 2020 wildfire season. Using time-series methodology, we assessed the relationship between short-term exposure to particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and Air Quality Index (AQI) on confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 20 counties impacted by wildfires. Our findings indicate that PM, CO, and AQI are positively associated with confirmed COVID-19 cases. This suggests that increased air pollution could worsen the situation of a health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Health policymakers should make tailored policies to cope with situations that may increase the level of air pollution, especially during a wildfire season.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095057 | DOI Listing |
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02114.
Radon, a common radioactive indoor air pollutant, is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. Knowledge about its distribution is essential for risk assessment and designing efficient protective regulations. However, the three current radon maps for the United States are unable to provide the up-to-date, high-resolution, and time-varying radon concentrations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Medical Sciences, Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Turin and CPO-Piemonte, Turin, Italy.
Objectives: Maternal occupational exposures during early pregnancy can be detrimental to foetus health and have short- and long-term health effects on the child. This study examined their association with adverse birth outcomes.
Methods: The study included 3938 nulliparous women from the Italian NINFEA mother-child cohort.
Environ Sci Technol
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Air pollution is a leading contributor to the global disease burden. However, the complex nature of the chemicals to which humans are exposed through inhalation has obscured the identification of the key compounds responsible for diseases. Here, we develop a network topology-based framework to identify key toxic compounds in the airborne chemical exposome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Biometeorol
January 2025
Department of Preventive Health, Shanxi Cardiovascular Hospital, No. 18 Yifen Street, Wanbailin District, Taiyuan, 030024, Shanxi Province, China.
Air pollution remains a significant threat to human health and economic development. Most previous studies have examined the health effects of individual pollutants, which often overlook the combined impacts of multiple pollutants. The traditional composite indicator air quality index (AQI) only focuses on the major pollutants, whereas the health risk-based air quality index (HAQI) could offer a more comprehensive evaluation of the health effects of various pollutants on populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Monit Assess
January 2025
International Joint Research Center For Green Energy and Chemical Industry, School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, People's Republic of China.
Escalating SOx and NOx emissions from industrial plants necessitates customized scrubbing solutions to improve removal efficiency and tackle cost limitations in existing wet FGD units. This work investigates the real-time intensified removal pathways via an innovative two-stage countercurrent spray tower configuration strategically integrating NaOH (M) and NaOH/NaClO (M/M) to remove SOx and NOx emissions simultaneously from the industrial stack through a comprehensive parametric study of absorbents concentration, reaction temperature, gas flow rate, liquid to gas ratio (F/F), and absorbent showering head. Flue gas stream comprising SO bearing 4500 ppm, SO bearing 300 ppm, 70 ppm NO, and 50 ppm NO brought into contact with two scrubbing solutions as M, and a complex absorbent of M/M at varying respective ratios.
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