There is a wide debate on the connections between pollution and COVID-19 propagation. This note faces this problem by exploring the peculiar case of the correlation between outdoor light pollution and the ratio between infected people and population. We discuss the empirical case of Italian provinces (NUTS-3 level), which represent an interesting context for the noticeable entity of contagions and for the relevant level of outdoor light pollution. The empirical results, based on a multivariate cross section model controlling for income, density, population ageing and environmental pollution, show that there is a positive relation between outdoor light pollution per capita and the strength of COVID-19 infection. This effect is statistically more robust in a non linear specification than in a linear one. We interpret our findings as a piece of evidence related to the impact of outdoor light pollution on human health, thus suggesting policies aimed at reducing this important source of pollution.

关于污染与 COVID-19 传播之间的联系存在广泛争论。本文通过探讨室外光污染与感染者与人口比例之间的相关性这一特殊案例来面对这个问题。我们讨论了意大利各省的经验案例（NUTS-3 级别），它代表了明显的传染病实体和室外光污染的相关水平的有趣背景。基于控制收入、密度、人口老龄化和环境污染的多元横截面模型的实证结果表明，人均户外光污染与COVID-19感染强度之间存在正相关关系。从统计上看，这种效应在非线性规范中比在线性规范中更稳健。我们将我们的发现解释为与室外光污染对人类健康影响相关的证据，从而提出旨在减少这一重要污染源的政策。