Pandemic: Less air pollution means thousands fewer die

There will be 11,000 fewer deaths in European countries under coronavirus lockdown due to a sharp drop in fossil fuel pollution during April, according to research released Thursday.

Measures to
halt the spread of coronavirus have slowed the region’s economies to a crawl,
with coal-generated power falling by nearly 40 percent, and oil consumption by
a third.

“This
will result in 11,000 avoided deaths from air pollution,” said lead author
Lauri Myllyvirta, senior analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean
Air (CREA).

Globally,
oil use has declined by about the same amount, with drops in coal consumption
varying by region.

An unintended
boon of shuttered factories and empty roads has been more breathable air.

Levels of
nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and small particle pollution known as PM2.5 — both
toxic by-products burning coal, oil and gas — fell 37 and 10 percent,
respectively, according to the findings.

“The
impacts are the same or bigger in many other parts of the world,”
Myllyvirta told AFP. “So we are looking at an even larger number of
avoided deaths.”

In China,
for example, NO2 and PM2.5 levels declined by a 25 and 40 percent during the
most stringent period of lockdown, with an even sharper fall in Hubei Province,
where the global pandemic began.

Air
pollution shortens lives worldwide by nearly three years on average, and causes
8.8 million premature deaths annually, according to a study last month.

The World
Health Organization (WHO) calculates 4.2 million deaths, but has underestimated
the impact on cardiovascular disease, recent research has shown.

Worst-hit is
Asia, where average lifespan is cut 4.1 years in China, 3.9 years in India, and
3.8 years in Pakistan.

In Europe,
life expectancy is shortened by eight months.

“Our
analysis highlights tremendous benefits for public health and quality of life
that could be achieved by rapidly reducing fossil fuels in a sustained and
sustainable way,” Myllyvirta said.

Pollution and COVID-19

The
happenstance evidence that less air pollution saves lives should guide
governments deciding on how to reboot their economies, noted Maria Neira, the
WHO’s director for Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.

“When
we eventually take off our face masks, we want to keep breathing clean
air,” she said, commenting on the findings.

“If we
truly care about the health of our communities, countries and global commons,
we must find ways of powering the planet without relying on fossil fuels.”

Compared to
other causes of premature death, air pollution worldwide kills 19 times more
people each year than malaria, nine times more than HIV/AIDS, and three times
more than alcohol.

Another
study comparing more than 3,000 US counties, meanwhile, found that PM 2.5
pollution is directly linked with higher COVID-19 death rates.

One extra
micron per cubic metre corresponded to a 15 percent jump in COVID-19 mortality,
researchers at the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health
reported earlier this month.

The results
“suggest that long-term exposure to air pollution increases vulnerability
to experiencing the most severe Covid-19 outcomes,” they wrote.

PM 2.5
particles penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, causing
cardiovascular respiratory problems.

In 2013, the
WHO classified it as a cancer-causing agent.

In India’s
Uttar Pradesh — home to 200 million — small particle pollution by itself
slashes life expectancy by 8.5 years, while in China’s Hebei Province
(population 74 million) the shortfall is nearly six years, according to the Air
Quality Life Index, developed by researchers at the Energy Policy Institute of
Chicago.

All but two
percent of China’s cities exceeded WHO guidelines for PM2.5 levels, while 53
percent exceeded less stringent national safety limits.

The UN says
PM2.5 density should not top 25 microgrammes per cubic metre (25 mcg/m3) of air
in any 24-hour period. China has set the bar at 35 mcg/m3.

The new
analysis from CREA matches weather conditions and changes in emissions to data
on the damages to health linked to exposure to air pollution.

Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/living/health/2020/04/pandemic-less-air-pollution-means-thousands-fewer-die/