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EPA recommends keeping current air standards

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler says the agency is proposing to retain current ozone requirements that were set in 2015.

“Current scientific information continues to support the conclusion that the primary standard established in 2015 protects public health with an adequate margin of safety.”

He says from 2017 to 2019, ozone concentrations across the country fell four percent.

Wheeler says a recent Harvard study, which suggests breathing more polluted air after many years could worsen the effects of COVID-19, has not been peer-reviewed and is withholding judgment until then. 

Researchers have analyzed cities in China and have found a significant relationship between air pollution and COVID-19 infection.  Other research links a large portion of coronavirus deaths to the most polluted regions of the globe.