There is a rising concern that air pollution plays an important role in the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the results weren’t consistent on the association between air pollution and the spread of COVID-19. In the study, air pollution data and the confirmed cases of COVID-19 were both gathered from five severe cities across three countries in South America. Daily real-time population regeneration (Rt) were calculated to assess the spread of COVID-19. Two frequently used model, generalized additive models (GAM) and multiple linear regression, were both used to explore the impact of environmental pollutants on the epidemic. Wide ranges of all the six air pollutants were detected across the five cities. Spearman's correlation analysis confirmed the positive correlation within six pollutants. Rt value showed a gradual decline in all the five cities. Further analysis showed that the association between air pollution and COVID-19 varied across five cities. Multiple linear regression and GAM did not give the same trend in a specific city. For example, in Sao Paulo, the GAM model shows that PM10 has a nonlinear negative correlation with Rt, while PM10 has no significant correlation in the multiple linear model. According to our research results, even for the same region, varied models gave inconsistent results. Moreover, in the case of multiple regions, current used models should be selected according to local conditions.

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Posted 13 May, 2021
On 31 May, 2021
Received 11 May, 2021
Invitations sent on 11 May, 2021
On 07 May, 2021
On 28 Apr, 2021
On 23 Apr, 2021
Posted 13 May, 2021
On 31 May, 2021
Received 11 May, 2021
Invitations sent on 11 May, 2021
On 07 May, 2021
On 28 Apr, 2021
On 23 Apr, 2021
There is a rising concern that air pollution plays an important role in the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the results weren’t consistent on the association between air pollution and the spread of COVID-19. In the study, air pollution data and the confirmed cases of COVID-19 were both gathered from five severe cities across three countries in South America. Daily real-time population regeneration (Rt) were calculated to assess the spread of COVID-19. Two frequently used model, generalized additive models (GAM) and multiple linear regression, were both used to explore the impact of environmental pollutants on the epidemic. Wide ranges of all the six air pollutants were detected across the five cities. Spearman's correlation analysis confirmed the positive correlation within six pollutants. Rt value showed a gradual decline in all the five cities. Further analysis showed that the association between air pollution and COVID-19 varied across five cities. Multiple linear regression and GAM did not give the same trend in a specific city. For example, in Sao Paulo, the GAM model shows that PM10 has a nonlinear negative correlation with Rt, while PM10 has no significant correlation in the multiple linear model. According to our research results, even for the same region, varied models gave inconsistent results. Moreover, in the case of multiple regions, current used models should be selected according to local conditions.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5
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