INCREASED PM2.5 LEVELS ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED INCIDENCE OF COVID-19: THE WASHINGTON WILDFIRES OF 2020: los incendios de Washington de 2020

Casey Mace Firebaugh; Tishra  Beeson; Amie  Wojtyna; Ryan  Arboleda

doi:10.32435/envsmoke.20214249-53

Authors

Casey Mace Firebaugh Central Washington University
Tishra Beeson COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7231-5816
Amie Wojtyna https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0863-0747
Ryan Arboleda https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1937-2456

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32435/envsmoke.20214249-53

Keywords:

PM2.5, Air Pollution, Climate Change, COVID-19, Respiratory Disease

Abstract

Yakima County, Washington was subject to the extrordinary Washington Wildfire Season of 2020 in which unhealty air (PM2.5) persisted for a 14-day period. This remarkable fire and smoke season began in tandem with the COVID-19 pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 virus, like inhaled particulate matter is known to cause respiratory illness or injury. This study sought to determine through publicly available data whether increased levels of PM2.5 were associated with increased cases of COVID-19. Using a 12-day lag analysis, Pearson product correlations were performed between PM2.5 24-hour averages in Yakima County Washington and daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 for data available on March 1, 2020-October 15, 2020. In addition, total running cases of confirmed COVID-19, daily mortality and total running mortality rates were compared in the lag analyses. All days (PM2.5) in the lag analysis were found to have a statistically significant positive correlation with COVID-19 case counts and total running counts of COVID-19 (p<.001) with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.24-0.28. The total running mortality rates were also significantly associated with daily PM2.5 (p<.001); however, the daily mortality rates were not found to be statistically significantly related to PM2.5. This simple analysis provides preliminary evidence that increased air pollution (PM2.5) is associated with higher rates of confirmed COVID-19 cases. However, further research is required to determine the potentially confounding factors in this relationship.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

American Lung Association (ALA). State of the Air. American Lung Association, Chicago, 2021.

CHING, J.; KAJINO, M. Rethinking Air Quality and Climate Change after COVID-19. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, v. 17, n. 14, p. 5167, 2020. doi:10.3390/ijerph17145167

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Nonattainment Areas for Criteria Pollutants (Green Book), 2021. Available on: https://www.epa.gov/green-book

FIREBAUGH, C.; BEESON, T.; WOJTYNA, A. , BRAVO, L.; EVERSON, T.; JOHNSON, J.; SALDANA, A. A Community Case Study on Geographic, Environmental, and Social Health Disparities in COVID-19 Disease: Yakima, Washington. Open Journal of Preventive Medicine, v. 10, n. 11, p. 288, 2020. Doi: 10.4236/ojpm.2020.1011021.

GERANIOS, N.K. County Has Highest Rate of COVID-19 Cases on West Coast. The Seattle Times. 2020. Available on: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/yakima-county-has-top-rate-of-coronav irus-cases-on-west-coast/

LIU, X.; HUANG, J.; LI, C.; ZHAO, Y.; WANG, D.; HUANG, Z.; YANG, K. The role of seasonality in the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental research, v. 195, p. 110874, 2021.

SINCLAIR, A. H.; TOLSMA, D. Associations and lags between air pollution and acute respiratory visits in an ambulatory care setting: 25-month results from the aerosol research and inhalation epidemiological study. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, v. 54, n. 9, p. 1212-1218, 2004.

Taj, T., Jakobsson, K., Stroh, E., & Oudin, A. (2016). Air pollution is associated with primary health care visits for asthma in Sweden: a case-crossover design with a distributed lag non-linear model. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, v. 54, n. 9, p. 1212-1218, 2004.

Washington Smoke Information. Smoky Siege: A Look Back at the Smoke Storm of 2020. 2020.

Available on: https://wasmoke.blogspot.com/2020/09/smoky-siege-look-back-at-smoke-storm-of.html

Washington State Department of Health. Yakima Community Health Needs Assessment. 2017. Available on: https://www.yakimamemorial.org/pdf/about/community-hna-2019.pdf

ZHANG, F.; KRAFFT, T.; YE, B.; ZHANG F.; ZHANG, J.; LUO, H.; WANG, W. The lag effects and seasonal differences of air pollutants on allergic rhinitis in Beijing. Science of the total environment, v. 442, p. 172-176, 2013.