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

is the (which was not peer-reviewed) The copyright holder for this preprint . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.06.20055657 doi: medRxiv preprint 40 | P a g e Coccia M. (2020) 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 socioeconomic system. Some studies done in the past show the causality of the reduction of air pollution on health benefits. For instance, Pope (1989) describes the case of a labor dispute that shut down a large steel mill in the Utah Valley for 14 months in 1987. Toxicological studies of particulate matter collected before, during, and after the strike, in the Utah Valley case, provide strong evidence of a causal relation between exposure to ambient particulate matter and mortality and morbidity. Ambient particulate matter concentrations as well as respiratory hospital admissions were clearly decreased during the strike, increasing to prestrike levels after the dispute ended (Pope, 1989 ; cf., the reduction of mortality described by Pope, 1996) . Another example includes the reductions in acute-care visits and hospital admissions for asthma in Atlanta (GA, USA), in conjunction with reduced air pollution due to traffic restrictions taken during the 2000 Olympic games (Friedman, 2001) .