It is hypothesized that short-term exposure to air pollution may influence the transmission of aerosolized pathogens such as COVID-19. We used data from 23 provinces in Italy to build a generalized additive model to investigate the association between the effective reproductive number of the disease and air quality while controlling for ambient environmental variables and changes in human mobility. The model finds that there is a positive, nonlinear relationship between the density of particulate matter in the air and COVID-19 transmission, which is in alignment with similar studies on other respiratory illnesses.

翻译：我们利用意大利23个省的数据建立了一个通用添加剂模型,以调查疾病有效生殖数量与空气质量之间的联系,同时控制环境变数和人类流动性的变化,该模型发现空气中的颗粒物密度与COVID-19的传播之间存在积极的非线性关系,这与其他呼吸道疾病的类似研究是一致的。