"There's really no threshold to say, oh, this is a safe level of air pollution. © CBC Dr. Jeff Kwong, a scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto, co-authored a new study linking chronic air pollution to worse COVID-19 outcomes. It didn't include people who live in long-term care homes because their vulnerability to severe COVID-19 outcomes and air pollution exposure differ from the general population. "Air pollution increases the levels of inflammation because the teensy tiny little particles of air pollution can actually go through our alveoli, the barrier between our lungs and our blood, into our bloodstream and lead to inflammatory cascades," said Howard. "It's time that we start to look at air pollution as a huge threat."

Source: CBC News June 05, 2022 11:49 UTC