We all knew inhaling smoke was somewhat of a risk (Somehow, most people believe this only applies to kitchen smoke and not tobacco) but recent data coming to light suggests we may have been in luck all this while.

Burden…

Official reports are in! And while it is no surprise that the COVID-19 total mortality count did shoot up to 6.9 million, we weren’t expecting air pollution to tally right behind at 6.7 million deaths annually.

Annually? Yes. This means that over the past couple of years, air pollution has been responsible for more deaths than COVID-19 ever has in its history.

So why doesn’t it get more attention?

Well, in less industrialized countries where monitoring carbon emissions isn’t really a thing, the causes are mostly in line with activities that make up the very fabric of life. Smoke from transport vehicles appears to be the leading contributor, followed closely by cooking gas smoke and dust from unpaved roads.

• The Democratic Republic of Congo tops the African list of most air-polluted countries with 45micrograms/m3 of fine particulate matter (PM2.5)

• Angola, on the other hand, has the cleanest air of them all. At 32 micrograms/m3 of PM2.5, we may have just identified your next vacation spot for you.

Now what?

While no one is coming to stop you from getting into a bus or into the kitchen, Uganda has launched an Air Quality Awareness Week with its primary aims being: awareness and reforestation. What better way to combat CO2 than with some Oxygeeeeennn(queue in Oxlade)?

All that being said, we’re left wondering: What happened to face masks?