Assessing nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels as a contributing factor to coronavirus (COVID-19) fatality

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is an ambient trace-gas result of both natural and anthropogenic processes. Long-term exposure to NO2 may cause a wide spectrum of severe health problems such as hypertension, diabetes, heart and cardiovascular diseases and even death. The objective of this study is to examine...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment Vol. 726; p. 138605
Main Author: Ogen, Yaron
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 15.07.2020
Subjects:
air flow
Air Pollutants
Air Pollution
Betacoronavirus
chronic exposure
Coronavirus
Coronavirus Infections
COVID-19
death
diabetes
Environmental Exposure
Europe
France
Germany
heart
hypertension
Italy
Nitrogen Dioxide
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
Orthocoronavirinae
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral
pollutants
SARS-CoV-2
Sentinel-5P
Spain
troposphere
viruses
Europe
Italy
France
Germany
Spain
COVID-19
Sentinel-5P
Coronavirus
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
Nitrogen dioxide (NO)
ISSN:0048-9697, 1879-1026, 1879-1026
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is an ambient trace-gas result of both natural and anthropogenic processes. Long-term exposure to NO2 may cause a wide spectrum of severe health problems such as hypertension, diabetes, heart and cardiovascular diseases and even death. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between long-term exposure to NO2 and coronavirus fatality. The Sentinel-5P is used for mapping the tropospheric NO2 distribution and the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis for evaluating the atmospheric capability to disperse the pollution. The spatial analysis has been conducted on a regional scale and combined with the number of death cases taken from 66 administrative regions in Italy, Spain, France and Germany. Results show that out of the 4443 fatality cases, 3487 (78%) were in five regions located in north Italy and central Spain. Additionally, the same five regions show the highest NO2 concentrations combined with downwards airflow which prevent an efficient dispersion of air pollution. These results indicate that the long-term exposure to this pollutant may be one of the most important contributors to fatality caused by the COVID-19 virus in these regions and maybe across the whole world. [Display omitted]
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ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138605