One COVID-19 Curiosity and One Myth from Space

The Myth from Space

Around 5 February 2020, an image from a space satellite showed a bright red spot to the west of Wuhan China.  In the need for an explanation, a conspiracy arose when a reporter posted what he said this image proved.  

He reported that crematoriums in China were overwhelmed with dead bodies from the virus.  To cover up the magnitude of the situation, they were, not only misreporting the number of people dying from COVID-19, but supposedly the officials were burning large numbers of unidentified bodies en masse outside the city.  

The red glow would have been damning, had it not been for deeper investigation that shows the story is another example of 'fake news' (which always seem to have a political tinge).  

A News Vacuum is Always Filled by Gossip

However, it is the reluctance of China, to accurately share the truth in a timely fashion that has opened this "Pandemics Box" of disease and death, globally.  We can only hope and pray the growing seriousness of the situation motivates increasing accuracy and openness.

The Curiosity from Space

China has long been recognised as the world's heaviest polluter and there are some scientists puzzling with another discovery.  An air-quality, monitoring satellite showed a lack of a 'normal' red glow indicating a dramatic decrease of nitrogen dioxide over China.  

For those of us who forgot most of our basic chemistry, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is the gas released into the air from burning fossil fuels in cars, trucks, buses and power plants. 

Health Effects of NO2

When nitrogen dioxide mixes with the air we breathe, and especially when there is a high concentration of NO2 over time (such as there typically is in China), it irritates airways in our respiratory systems.  

Even limited exposure can aggravate breathing for those who have respiratory diseases, especially asthma.  It can lead to coughing, wheezing and/or difficulty breathing.  It results in many urgent trips to the emergency room and hospital admissions to help manage the symptoms. 

NO2 has been suspected of causing the rise in asthma and the increasing vulnerability of normal individuals to other respiratory infections.  

NO2 reacts with other chemicals in the air and forms particulate matter (like dust) and ozone.  Both have been proven to be harmful when inhaled and cause additional damage and weakness to the respiratory system.

Final Concern

This strange lack of NO2 leaves us with a curious mystery.  Not that the lack of typical levels of pollution was a result of practically closing down China  -- but how vulnerable the lungs of the Chinese people must be.  To COVID-19 virus it must have seemed a rather welcoming environment for a newly mutated virus to luxuriate in!

References

1. euronews - 'Debunked:  This image doesn't show 'extent of corpse burning in Wuhan', 13 February 2020.

2. US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 'What is Nitrogen Dioxide?'

3. Foxnews, 'Over China coronavirus coincides with a plummet in nitrogen dioxide', 1 March 2020.