Exposition of the Italian population to the air pollution and relation with Covid-19
Air pollution is one of the main causes of dead around the World, with negative effects linked with exposition in the short and long term. Recently some studies have searched connections also with the pandemic Covid-19. In order to analyze this potential association at Italian level, it is needed to investigate the whole Country, included urban and not urban areas.
A study coordinated by the Department of Epidemiology of the Lazio Regional Health Service, ASL Roma 1, in which ISPRA also participated, developed models that use multiple information sources (satellite data, land use variables, meteorology) and produce estimates of daily concentrations of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) for each km2 of the Italian territory, and every day in the period 2016-2019.
In this way, the estimates will allow to determine the acute and chronic exposure of the Italian population and to evaluate any negative effects of air pollution on the spread and severity of the COVID-19 epidemic.