Published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine (BMJ), the results of a study conducted by Epimed (Center for Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Insubria) examine the adult population of the city of Varese from the start of the pandemic to March 2021. In this work, ARIANET was responsible for calculating ground-level concentration fields for various pollutants over the entire analysis period, determining the exposure levels of residents to different pollutants, and comparing these results with those from 2018, used as a reference.
According to the study, for every additional µg/m³ of PM2.5, the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate increases by 5%. Similar relationships are observed for other pollutants such as PM10, NO, and NO2.
While the study does not yet establish a causal link, it provides initial empirical evidence of the connection between long-term exposure to air pollution and the incidence of COVID-19 infection.
The full article can be downloaded here.