Thousands of COVID-19 cases and deaths in California, Oregon, and Washington between March and December 2020 may have been exacerbated by air pollution caused by wildfire smoke, according to a new Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study.
Published Friday, the study is the first to analyze how increases in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution during the wildfires have contributed to COVID-19 cases and deaths in the U.S.
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"In this study we are providing evidence that climate change—which increases the frequency and the intensity of wildfires—and the pandemic are a disastrous combination," said Francesca Dominici, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Biostatistics, Population and Data Science at Harvard Chan School and senior author of the study.
Last year, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, massive wildfires broke out in California, Oregon and Washington. Wildfires produce high levels of PM2.5, which has been linked to a number of health issues, including premature death, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and other respiratory illnesses. Recent studies have found connections between PM2.5 and COVID-19 as well.
The researchers looked at the connection between data on PM2.5 air concentrations and the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in 92 counties, which represented 95% of the population across California, Oregon and Washington. The researchers accounted for factors such as weather, population size, and societal patterns of social distancing and mass gatherings.
Wildfires amplified the effect of exposure to PM2.5 on COVID-19 cases and deaths, up to four weeks after the exposure, the study found.
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The biggest increase of COVID-19 cases were in the counties of Sonoma, California, at 65% and Whitman, Washington, at 72%, and the biggest increase of COVID-19 deaths were in Calaveras, California, at 53% and San Bernardino, California at 66%.
The study found that across the three states, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases and deaths attributable to daily increases in PM2.5 from wildfires was, respectively, 19,700 and 750.
"This study provides policymakers with key information regarding how the effects of one global crisis—climate change—can have cascading effects on concurrent global crises—in this case, the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dominici.
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