Revised(8/11/2020) : Summary reader response on "What We Do and Don’t Know about the Link between Air Pollution and Coronavirus”

In the article, "What We Do and Don’t Know about the Link between Air Pollution and Coronavirus”, Lewis (2020) has stated that there are possible correlations between coronavirus and air pollution. By using accessible and reliable global data on air pollution, Lewis claimed that air pollution worsens existing health conditions like “strokes, heart disease, respiratory illness and more,” which increase the mortality rate of COVID-19. For example, Lewis mentioned that it makes sense for the virus to spread around rapidly in densely populated cities like New York and London where there are huge global travel connections. However, Lewis believes that poverty and deprivation are other considerations leading to the underlying health conditions. Although it is difficult to find more correlations as the spread of COVID-19 has yet to complete, Lewis stated that this air pollution-COVID-19 correlation has brought hope to lessen the effects of the coronavirus. 

I agree with Lewis that air pollution may have a certain correlation with coronavirus. However, the article fails to address the public's concern about coronavirus due to the lack of information on other reliable factors that affect the spread of the virus.

One of the factors that the public should be aware of is the relation of atmospheric temperature with COVID-19. As the environmental temperature rises, the ability of the virus to spread around decreases. According to Woodward(2020), the World Health Organization(WHO) has done a study on the relation between the atmospheric temperature the spreading rate of the virus where the R naught represents the average number of people that have no immunity to the virus and has been previously infected by the virus. Based on Woodward's finding, "for every 1.8-degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature and 1% increase in relative humidity, the coronavirus' R naught value decreased by 0.04 and 0.02". While the virus is currently still active and contagious, it is best to avoid interacting with one another, especially during the cold weather. 

Another factor that the public should be aware of is the need for social distancing. As the coronavirus spreads through human to human contact, separating people and disrupting the transmission is one of the ways to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Pearce (2020) stated that the use of social distancing is to lessen the interaction between people as "diseases transmitted by respiratory droplets require a certain proximity of people". Therefore, the lack of social distancing is a factor that contributes to the increasing rate of coronavirus transmission.

Lastly, tourist activities are also a factor aiding the spread of the virus. Back when the virus was first discovered, country borders were still open and tourist activities were on-going. This led to the spread of the virus from Wuhan, China. to other countries, including Thailand. According to Tantrakarnapa(2020), "The first infected female case was officially reported in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, her nationality is Chinese. She migrated from China to Thailand as a tourist. All first 15 infected cases in Thailand were a Chinese nationality and was detected from 12 January to 31 January, it was 19 days for spreading from 1 to 15 cases." As the tourists and commuters of Thailand were in close proximity to one another, the chances of virus transmission is high. This caused the spread to increase rapidly until the number of cases hit 200 on 21st March 2020. This shows that there is a strong correlation of tourist factor to the number of COVID-19 cases. 

As Lewis mentioned in his article, air pollution is not the only contributing factor for the spread of the coronavirus. Factors like atmospheric temperature, social distancing, and tourist activities will either aid or minimize the spread of the virus. If these factors are considered and measures are taken correctly by the public, the spread of the virus will be reduced.

 

References

Lewis, A. (2020, May 12). What we do and don’t know about the links between air pollution and coronavirus. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/what-we-do-and-dont-know-about-the-links-between-air-pollution-and-coronavirus-137746

Pearce, K. (2020, March 13). What is social distancing and how can it slow the spread of COVID-19? The Hub. https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/03/13/what-is-social-distancing/

Tantrakarnapa, K. (2020, June 18). Influencing factors of COVID-19 spreading: a case study of Thailand. Journal of Public Health. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10389-020-01329-5?error=cookies_not_supported&code=b8902c5f-3b44-4eb1-befa-9f67d79c160d

Woodward, A. (2020, March 18). High temperatures and muggy weather might make the new coronavirus less contagious, a group of experts says. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/high-temperatures-and-muggy-weather-might-make-the-new-coronavirus-less-contagious-a-group-of-experts-says/articleshow/74697538.cms