Wildfire smoke could raise risk of severe Covid and death, study finds

“About two weeks after we had these smoke exposure events, we saw an uptick in the Covid-19 incidents, even in a low-density pollution area, that were beyond what you would have predicted normally. And then as the smoke dissipated, the peak went back down,” said Michael Kleinman, a co-director of the Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory [and adjunct professor of Environmental & Occupational Health] at the University of California, Irvine, who co-wrote the Orange County study. “This happened three times with three different smoke exposures.”