It has been over a year since COVID-19 emerged. Since its emergence, research and studies have been conducted to discover various details about the deadly virus. Meanwhile, according to a new study, smoke from fires can significantly increase the risk of COVID-19 infection. The research states that smoke emitted from fires can increase susceptibility to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
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The findings were published in a study titled "Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.".
The research team led by the Desert Research Institute (DRI) began the study to examine whether smoke from the 2020 wildfires contributed to COVID-19 infections in Reno. To conduct the study, the team used models to analyze the relationship between fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) from wildfire smoke and SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate data from Renown Health
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According to the findings, it was found that PM 2.5 from fire smoke was indeed responsible for a 17.7% increase in COVID-19 cases detected during the fire between August 16 to October 10, 2020.
Reno, located in Washoe County in northern Nevada, was exposed to higher PM2.5 concentrations for longer periods of time than any other area last year. The area was exposed to a lot of smoke from the wildfires in California. During the same time period, we saw an increase in COVID-19 cases.
Daniel Kiser, MS, co-lead author of the study and assistant research scientist for data science at DRI said, “Our results showed a significant increase in the COVID-19 positivity rate in Reno during a period when the atmosphere had a lot of smoke from the wildfires that broke out in California.”
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“We believe our study significantly strengthens the evidence that wildfire smoke can enhance the spread of SARS-CoV-2,” said Gai Elhanan, co-lead author of the study and a research associate in computer science at DRI.
Source of information: republicworld.com
