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.