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. 2020 Aug:97:278-282.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.05.076. Epub 2020 Jun 2.

Air pollution and temperature are associated with increased COVID-19 incidence: A time series study

He Li  1 , Xiao-Long Xu  2 , Da-Wei Dai  3 , Zhen-Yu Huang  3 , Zhuang Ma  1 , Yan-Jun Guan  4
Affiliations

Air pollution and temperature are associated with increased COVID-19 incidence: A time series study

He Li et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

Objectives: Although COVID-19 is known to be caused by human-to-human transmission, it remains largely unclear whether ambient air pollutants and meteorological parameters could promote its transmission.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to study whether air quality index (AQI), four ambient air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, NO2 and CO) and five meteorological variables (daily temperature, highest temperature, lowest temperature, temperature difference and sunshine duration) could increase COVID-19 incidence in Wuhan and XiaoGan between Jan 26th to Feb 29th in 2020.

Results: First, a significant correlation was found between COVID-19 incidence and AQI in both Wuhan (R2=0.13, p<0.05) and XiaoGan (R2=0.223, p<0.01). Specifically, among four pollutants, COVID-19 incidence was prominently correlated with PM2.5 and NO2 in both cities. In Wuhan, the tightest correlation was observed between NO2 and COVID-19 incidence (R2=0.329, p<0.01). In XiaoGan, in addition to the PM2.5 (R2=0.117, p<0.01) and NO2 (R2=0.015, p<0.05), a notable correlation was also observed between the PM10 and COVID-19 incidence (R2=0.105, p<0.05). Moreover, temperature is the only meteorological parameter that constantly correlated well with COVID-19 incidence in both Wuhan and XiaoGan, but in an inverse correlation (p<0.05).

Conclusions: AQI, PM2.5, NO2, and temperature are four variables that could promote the sustained transmission of COVID-19.

Keywords: AQI; Ambient air pollutant; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Temperature.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The correlation between daily COVID-19 incidence and air quality index (AQI) in Wuhan (A) and XiaoGan (B).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The correlation between daily COVID-19 incidence and ambient air pollution/five meteorological parameters in Wuhan.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The correlation between daily COVID-19 incidence and ambient air pollution/five meteorological parameters in XiaoGan.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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