US air quality report finds a sharp uptick in pollution

The US saw the highest number of “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” air quality days between 2018 and 2022 than it ever had before, according to a report released Thursday by the American Lung Association.

After a steady 23-year decline in US pollution levels through 2017, the American Lung Association’s State of the Air 2022 report found a sharp uptick in pollution over the past five years.

Nearly 9 million more people were exposed to deadly particle pollution spikes than in last year’s report, and more than 137 million Americans live in counties with unhealthy air. The report also found that 1.5 million pregnant people lived in counties with a failing grade for at least one pollutant. Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy can cause problems including higher infant mortality, lower birth weight, impaired lung development and early changes in immune development, studies show.

Some experts predicted that with the Covid-19 pandemic and fewer people driving during lockdown, pollution levels would drop. There were indeed some marked improvements in air quality, acording to the report, but the progress didn’t hold up nationwide throughout 2020. Fine particulate matter pollution, also known as particle pollution or PM 2.5 pollution, can come from things like fossil fuel plants, cars and agriculture. It is one of the tiniest yet most dangerous pollutants.

When inhaled, the pollution travels deep into the lung tissue, where it can enter the bloodstream. Exposure is linked to several health problems, including asthma, heart disease, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses.

Particle pollution is also thought to make people more susceptible to Covid-19, even after short-term exposure, studies show. Long-term exposure is linked to more severe Covid-19 outcomes.

For healthy people, exposure to this kind of pollution means more coughing, wheezing, asthma attacks and shortness of breath. For people with asthma and other chronic disease, exposure means higher rates of premature death.

The cities that were most polluted by year-round particle pollution were all in California, with Bakersfield topping the list, followed by the Fresno-Madera-Hanford area, Visalia, the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area and Los Angeles. About 20.3 million people live in these areas.