Air pollution
One impact of the economic slowdown in relation to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic been a reduction in pollution levels. Globally, the carbon emission levels each day have been 17 percent lower compared to the average, with the levels closer to those last seen in 2006.
While this is encouraging news, it remains that those people most adversely affected by air pollution leading up to the COVID-19 era are those who have experienced the most severe symptoms of the disease, including a disproportionate number of people who have died from the viral infection.
This has been affirmed through experiments and data reviews conducted Studies in the U.S. which have found that a slight rise in pollution exposure increases the number of COVID-19 related deaths, up to 21 percent. Similar data relating to the U.K. shows a similar trend, albeit with a lower impact.
Overall, research findings correlate with risks from air pollution and more severe coronavirus symptoms, a finding perhaps unsurprising given that the coronavirus is a respiratory disease.
Pregnancy
Whether pregnant women are at a greater risk in relation to the coronavirus remains uncertain, mainly due to an inadequate volume of data being made available. In terms of the risk to the unborn child, fetal infections later in pregnancy are very rare.
However, to the mother there are some concerns. Data suggests, albeit it limited, that pregnancy makes a woman’s body more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 symptoms. This probably relates to alternations with the immune system.
Hence it remains good advice for healthcare facilities to put in place measures to protect pregnant patients. This will include issuing masks are pregnant women and ensuring that social contact measures are enforced.
Ethnicity
Based on studies conducted in the U.K., some community groups appear to be at a greater risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms than others. In particular, black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people are nearly twice as likely to die of COVID-19 than white people.
In order to look further into this matter, several new projects to improve our understanding of the links between COVID-19 and ethnicity have been funded by UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Medical Research Council (MRC).
