The Covid-19 epidemic continues to spread in France , and the situation is considered "still worrying", according to the latest epidemiological point of Public Health France of Thursday March 4. If the spread of variants remains an explanatory factor, shouldn't we dig deeper into... air pollution? In any case, this is the hypothesis developed by epidemiologist Antoine Flahault in an interview with the newspaper The World, published this Saturday March 6.
"It is possible that atmospheric pollution by fine particles is responsible for worsening of the epidemic both in the number of new contaminations and hospitalizations of Covid-19 cases", underlines the scientist, the day after various episodes of pollution linked to rising sand dust from the Sahara, having affected numerous departments (Hauts-de-France, Grand- East, Rhônes-Alpes-Auvergne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine or even Ile-de-France).
Fine particles vectors of the virus?
During these meteorological phenomena, fine particles, less than 2.5 micrometers in size, propagate through the air. The latter have the particularity of penetrating deeply into the body when They are inhaled. We also know that researchers identified cesium-137 in samples of this sand brought to France by southern winds in early February.
In an article in the scientific journal Earth System and Environment,researchers explain that sand particles would be capable of serving as a vector for tons of dangerous products: pesticides for example, or even heavy metals. So why couldn't they carry the virus? “The role of high concentrations of fine particles in the air could be one of the major determining factors in both the transmission and severity of Covid-19,” says Antoine Flahault.
Full article (Fr) : La Dépêche