Air Pollution and Mobility, What Drives COVID-19?
Published in Econometrics, 2021
Recommended citation: Rodríguez-Caballero, C.V., and Vera-Valdés, J.E. (2021). "Air Pollution and Mobility, What Drives COVID-19?." Econometrics. 9(4). https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1146/9/4/37
This paper tests if air pollution serves as a carrier for SARS-CoV-2. We show that the contemporary exposure to particle matter is not the main driver behind the increasing number of cases and deaths in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. Remarkably, we also find that the cross-dependence between municipalities in the Mexican region is highly correlated to public mobility, which plays the leading role behind the rhythm of contagion.