The SARS-COV-2 virus, also known as the coronavirus, has spread around the world. A growing literature suggests that exposure to pollution can cause respiratory illness and increase deaths among the elderly. However, little is known about whether increases in pollution could cause additional or more severe infections from COVID-19, which typically manifests as a respiratory infection. During the pandemic, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled back enforcement of environmental regulation, causing an increase in pollution in counties with more TRI sites. We use the variation in pollution and a difference in differences design to estimate the effects of increased pollution on county-level COVID-19 deaths and cases. We find that counties with more Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) sites saw a 11.8 percent increase in pollution on average following the EPA’s rollback of enforcement, compared to counties with fewer TRI sites. We also find that these policy-induced increases in pollution are associated with a 53 percent increase in cases and a 10.6 percent increase in deaths from COVID-19.

SARS-COV-2病毒也称为冠状病毒，已在世界范围内传播。越来越多的文献表明，接触污染会导致呼吸系统疾病并增加老年人的死亡。但是，人们对污染的增加是否会导致COVID-19引起更多或更严重的感染知之甚少，而这些通常表现为呼吸道感染。在大流行期间，环境保护署（EPA）取消了对环境法规的执行，导致拥有更多TRI站点的县的污染增加了。我们使用污染的变化和差异设计的差异来估算污染增加对县级COVID-19死亡和病例的影响。我们发现有更多有毒物质排放清单（TRI）站点的县有11个。与TRI场所较少的县相比，在EPA取消执法后，污染平均增加了8％。我们还发现，这些政策导致的污染增加与病例增加53％，COVID-19死亡人数增加10.6％有关。