Air Pollution and COVID-19 :
A Dangerous
Combination
Air pollution and COVID-19 are a dangerous and potentially deadly combination .
On March 11 , 2020 , the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic . Two days later , the President of the United States issued a national state of emergency declaration . Since then , the novel coronavirus has infected millions around the world and killed more than 400,000 Americans . 1
This report explores the potential for exposure to air pollution from oil and gas operations in two Mountain West states to exacerbate infections and deaths due to COVID-19 .
Air Pollution Harms Health
Chronic ( continued or repeated ) exposure to air pollution worsens many serious health conditions and in fact causes some . Decades of research link air pollution with a multitude of cradle-to-grave adverse health impacts including complications of pregnancy and poor birth outcomes , birth defects and childhood developmental delays . 2 Breathing polluted air is an important cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD ) in adults and of asthma in both children and adults . It is associated with the exacerbation of asthma and COPD and heart disease , and fine particulate matter can cause lung cancer . 3 People suffering from mental health conditions are adversely impacted in communities degraded by air pollution . 4 In all , according to estimates from the World Health Organization , more than four million
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