Covid fatality rate linked to air pollution levels in English study

Deaths from COVID-19 in England during the first wave of the pandemic were 70% higher in areas with worse air pollution than the national average, new research has revealed.

Report author Peter Congdon, geography professor at Queen Mary University of London, said he hoped the study would help avoid a high number of deaths in future similar epidemics - and also serve to highlight "the long standing issues of poor air quality in cities".

The report, published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal J, found the prevalence of nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter 10 were "significant influences" on deaths from COVID-19.

Comparatively, 40% fewer people died in areas of England with the cleanest air.

Ben Reilly wrote:

Deaths from COVID-19 in England during the first wave of the pandemic were 70% higher in areas with worse air pollution than the national average, new research has revealed.

Report author Peter Congdon, geography professor at Queen Mary University of London, said he hoped the study would help avoid a high number of deaths in future similar epidemics - and also serve to highlight "the long standing issues of poor air quality in cities".

The report, published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal J, found the prevalence of nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter 10 were "significant influences" on deaths from COVID-19.

Comparatively, 40% fewer people died in areas of England with the cleanest air.

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-deaths-in-englands-first-wave-were-70-higher-in-areas-with-worst-air-pollution-study-finds-12334365

eddie wrote:Areas with a shit ton of pollution makes for a shit ton of people with bad lungs. Not always poor people either.  Lots of cities are expensive to live in and many rich people live there

Ben Reilly wrote:No doubt density played some role, but the study found several air pollutants in particular that significantly contributed to fatalities due to Covid.

Air pollution is much more unhealthy than most people realize, or perhaps would like to admit.

Maddog wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:No doubt density played some role, but the study found several air pollutants in particular that significantly contributed to fatalities due to Covid.

Air pollution is much more unhealthy than most people realize, or perhaps would like to admit.

It's no doubt not good for you.

But I think this is correlational, not causational.    

Ben Reilly wrote:

Maddog wrote:

It's no doubt not good for you.

But I think this is correlational, not causational.    

"The report, published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal J, found the prevalence of nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter 10 were "significant influences" on deaths from COVID-19."

That's causational, not correlational.

Ben Reilly wrote:They named three specific pollutants that were found to make Covid more fatal, and yet you still insist that there were more deaths and air pollution in those areas simply because they're more crowded?

Fuck's sake but you are hard-headed. Three identified pollutants helped kill people and you hand-wave that away.

Maddog wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:They named three specific pollutants that were found to make Covid more fatal, and yet you still insist that there were more deaths and air pollution in those areas simply because they're more crowded?

Fuck's sake but you are hard-headed. Three identified pollutants helped kill people and you hand-wave that away.

Why were there more of those pollutants in that area?

Ben Reilly wrote:

Maddog wrote:

Why were there more of those pollutants in that area?

Because they were more populated, but that doesn't mean the population density made Covid more fatal to patients from those areas. Their exposure to those pollutants made it more fatal.

Density makes it easier to catch a disease, but it can't make the disease more fatal. Only other things present in the body can make something more fatal -- like how someone with asthma or a heart condition is more likely to die from the flu.

If you were to inject someone who lived in the country with those pollutants and then infect them with Covid, they'd be more likely to die than if they were only infected with Covid.

Maddog wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:

Maddog wrote:

Why were there more of those pollutants in that area?

Because they were more populated, but that doesn't mean the population density made Covid more fatal to patients from those areas. Their exposure to those pollutants made it more fatal.

Density makes it easier to catch a disease, but it can't make the disease more fatal. Only other things present in the body can make something more fatal -- like how someone with asthma or a heart condition is more likely to die from the flu.

If you were to inject someone who lived in the country with those pollutants and then infect them with Covid, they'd be more likely to die than if they were only infected with Covid.

OK, I don't pick up on the death rate of those that caught it being higher than the those that caught it in Wales. .

Just that more people died in more densely populated areas.