The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced fossil fuels and environmental pollution. Could this change the exposome in the long term and alter the cause of allergic and other respiratory diseases?
Although there has been a significant change in pollution parameters, unfortunately this reduction in pollution is transient and consequently unlikely to be significant. The exposome-related allergy and asthma risk is multifactorial. It includes climate change, biodiversity, the microbiome and nutrition among others, which have not changed during the pandemic.275 In addition, although pollution levels have dropped, climate change still occurs at an accelerated pace. Lifestyle changes during the lockdown276, weight gain and increased exposure to indoor allergens and pollutants may even increase the incidence of allergic diseases in the long-run.