Two mechanisms for accelerated diffusion of COVID-19 outbreaks in regions with high intensity of population and polluting industrialization: the air pollution-to-human and human-to-human transmission dynamics

Mario Coccia

How is the link between geographical and environmental factors and accelerate diffusion of COVID-19 in specific regions? Figure 3 show COVID-19 outbreak in North Italy with number of infected and days exceeding the limits set for PM10 or for ozone. Statistical analyses for N=55 Italian provincial capitals confirm the significant association between high diffusion of viral infectivity and air pollution. Studies show that the diffusion of viral infectivity depends on the interplay between host factors and the environment (Neu and Mainou, 2020) . In this context, it is critical to understand how air quality can affect viral dissemination at national and global level (Das and Horton, 2017) . Many ecological studies have examined the association between the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease and respiratory virus circulation and various climatic factors (McCullers, 2006; Jansen et al., 2008) . These . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.