Cleanse the Air to Help #FlattenTheCurve, Doctors Urge – The Energy Mix
All on its own, air pollution causes 400,000 pneumonia-related deaths around the world each per year, including 1,600 in B.C., at a cost of $11.5 billion to the health system, write Michael Brauer of the University of British Columbia School of Population and Public Health, Christopher Carlsten of the UBC Division of Respiratory Medicine, and Sarah Henderson of the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. And in 2003, exposure to elevated levels of air pollution doubled the risk of death from the SARS coronavirus.
“Fortunately, actions can be taken quickly and at relatively little cost or inconvenience,” the three specialists write. Control measures include banning use of home fireplaces that aren’t a primary heating source, cleaning up road dust, banning open burning of debris near population centres, and beginning preparations for this year’s wildfire season.