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

Other studies have reported associations between air pollution and reduced lung function, increased hospital admissions, increased respiratory symptoms and high asthma medication use (Simoni et al., 2015; Jalaludin et al., 2004) . In this context, the interaction between climate factors, air pollution and increased morbidity and mortality of people and children from respiratory diseases is a main health issue in society (Darrow et al., 2014) . Asthma is a disease that has been associated with exposure to traffic-related air pollution and tobacco smoke (Liao, 2011) . Many studies show that exposure to traffic-related outdoor air pollutants (e.g., particulate matter PM10 with an aerodynamic diameter ≤10 μm, nitrogen dioxide NO2, carbon monoxide CO, sulfur dioxide SO2, and ozone O3) increases the risk . 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.