When we went into shutdown mode, asthma visits at Children's Hospital dropped 80 percent

I'm hoping COVID will teach society at large that a lot of the things environmental folks and disability advocates and others have been promoting for years are possible and don't result in the sky falling. We don't in fact need most of our workforce commuting every day. Most workplaces don't need every single person in the office M-F 9-5 and can function just fine with people coming in a few days a week and doing things remotely the rest of the time. We can then have smaller workspaces and less travel happening. We also have shown that a lot of things work just fine over video and people don't need to be traveling for things like quick checkins with medical providers, social service agencies, etc.

The study authors identify several other potential reasons for the drop which aren't all good -- like avoidance of the hospital and reduced participation in sports and exercise. Unsurprisingly, the incidence of other communicable diseases is also way down and that would reduce the likelihood of kids getting asthma. But we do want kids to be able to go to school for more effective learning and socialization.

It might be reduced pollution. But it might be a lot of other factors, too. There isn't enough evidence to support a conclusion apart from ED visits going down. The study authors even point out that the decline seems more consistent with seasonal declines during the summer months which are likely connected with kids being out of school.