Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

Occupants in buildings suffer from both indoor-emitted and outdoor-origin air pollutants, such as SARS-COV-2 viruses that cause COVID-19 and NOx, respectively. The contributions of indoor and outdoor sources to the indoor environment change dynamically, which makes it difficult to provide effective mitigating strategies of human exposure without real-time air quality data. Currently, the development of technologies for the Internet-of-Things-based air quality sensors provides an opportunity to realize long-term monitoring for air quality at a low cost. Previous studies have shown the reliability of low-cost monitoring results for common air quality parameters. However, research efforts are still urgently needed to provide better solutions for indoor air quality (IAQ) regarding the growing need for the improvement of human health and energy conservation in buildings. The research effort includes:

1) how the IAQ would be impacted under different outdoor environment and occupant behaviors;

2) how to make good predictions regarding IAQ based on the massive data from indoor and outdoor sensors;

3) how to provide a better control strategy for IAQ-related devices to achieve energy-efficient ventilation;

4) exploring the possibility of integrating IAQ sensors and personal/zoned ventilation to provide more efficient ventilation solutions for both the IAQ and energy sides;

5) how the monitoring performance and accuracy can be further improved.

In light of the above information, the Topic aims to increase the interdisciplinary knowledge in a broad spectrum, which includes the relationship between indoor and outdoor air quality, prediction of indoor air quality, health impact, and exposure mitigation strategies. Studies can be conducted in any type of built environment, such as residential and commercial buildings and vehicular cabins. Studies that target one or multiple types of air pollutants that impact human health are warmly welcome. In particular, solutions to airborne particulate matters (PM) and pathogens are of significant interest due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Jiayu Li
Dr. Xilei Dai
Prof. Dr. Junjie Liu
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Atmosphere atmosphere	2.9	4.1	2010	17.7 Days	CHF 2400
Buildings buildings	3.8	3.1	2011	14.6 Days	CHF 2600
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ijerph	-	5.4	2004	29.6 Days	CHF 2500
Sensors sensors	3.9	6.8	2001	17 Days	CHF 2600

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Published Papers (12 papers)

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18 pages, 3350 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Surface Microbial Contamination and Air Quality before and after Regular Cleaning Procedures

by Mohammed O. A. Mohammed

Atmosphere 2023, 14(2), 352; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14020352 - 10 Feb 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4199

Abstract

Studies on indoor air quality (IAQ) have linked exposure to microorganisms in indoor air to a variety of illnesses. The association between indoor air quality, surface contamination, and IAQ under heterogeneous cleaning procedures are all crucial factors that were investigated in this study. [...] Read more.

Studies on indoor air quality (IAQ) have linked exposure to microorganisms in indoor air to a variety of illnesses. The association between indoor air quality, surface contamination, and IAQ under heterogeneous cleaning procedures are all crucial factors that were investigated in this study. The ATP bioluminescence test demonstrated a significant correlation (r = 0.89; p 0.05) with bacterial count obtained from swab specimens and a moderate correlation (r = 0.57; p 0.001) with viable settling bacterial count. For the entire sample (pre- and post-cleaning), the ATP values were heterogeneous, averaging 230 RLU/100 cm², 140 RLU/100 cm², 120 RLU/100 cm², 135 RLU/100 cm², 99 RLU/100 cm², and 80 RLU/100 cm², in offices, classrooms, toilet doorknobs, reception desks, main lobbies, and exit doorknobs, respectively. An insignificant association between indoor and outdoor PM2.5 (r = 0.21; p 0.05), an I/O ratio of PM2.5 with an average value of 1.2, and an I/O ratio of CO₂ exceeding 1 suggest a minor impact of outdoor air. After cleaning, the bacterial and fungal counts on indoor surfaces showed significant reduction, suggesting that the cleaning procedures were effective. The concentrations of VOC but not HCHO in indoor air were significantly affected by cleaning, but not by temperature or relative humidity (RH). We propose ATP bioluminescence as a surrogate for detecting bacterial contamination rather than fungal contamination, which requires additional validation. We suggest that the results of active microbial sampling (in CFU/m³) and settling plates (in CFU/m²/h) be interpreted independently to avoid confusion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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22 pages, 36323 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

The Long-Term Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns in Istanbul

by Elçin Tan

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(21), 14235; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114235 - 31 Oct 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1221

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) have set sustainability development goals to reduce diseases, deaths, and the environmental impact of cities due to air pollution. In Istanbul, although average pollutant concentrations have been on a downward trend in recent years, extreme values and their [...] Read more.

The World Health Organization (WHO) have set sustainability development goals to reduce diseases, deaths, and the environmental impact of cities due to air pollution. In Istanbul, although average pollutant concentrations have been on a downward trend in recent years, extreme values and their annual exceedance numbers are high based on the air quality standards of WHO and the EU. Due to COVID-19 lockdowns, statistically significant reductions in emissions were observed for short periods. However, how long the effect of the lockdowns will last is unknown. For this reason, this study aims to investigate the impact of long-term lockdowns on Istanbul’s air quality. The restriction period is approximated to the same periods of the previous years to eliminate seasonal effects. A series of paired t-tests (p-value < 0.05) were applied to hourly data from 12 March 2016, until 1 July 2021, when quarantines were completed at 36 air quality monitoring stations in Istanbul. The findings reveal that the average air quality of Istanbul was approximately 17% improved during the long-term lockdowns. Therefore, the restriction-related changes in emission distributions continued in the long-term period of 476 days. However, it is unknown how long this effect will continue, which will be the subject of future studies. Moreover, it was observed that the emission probability density functions changed considerably during the lockdowns compared to the years before. Accordingly, notable decreases were detected in air quality limit exceedances in terms of both excessive pollutant concentrations and frequency of occurrence, respectively, for PM₁₀ (−13% and −13%), PM_2.5 (−16% and −30%), and NO₂ (−3% and −8%), but not for O₃ (+200% and +540%) and SO₂ (−10% and +2.5%). Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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31 pages, 3592 KiB  

Open AccessReview

Lockdown Amid COVID-19 Ascendancy over Ambient Particulate Matter Pollution Anomaly

by Muhammad Azher Hassan, Tariq Mehmood, Ehtisham Lodhi, Muhammad Bilal, Afzal Ahmed Dar and Junjie Liu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(20), 13540; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013540 - 19 Oct 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2839

Abstract

Air is a diverse mixture of gaseous and suspended solid particles. Several new substances are being added to the air daily, polluting it and causing human health effects. Particulate matter (PM) is the primary health concern among these air toxins. The World Health [...] Read more.

Air is a diverse mixture of gaseous and suspended solid particles. Several new substances are being added to the air daily, polluting it and causing human health effects. Particulate matter (PM) is the primary health concern among these air toxins. The World Health Organization (WHO) addressed the fact that particulate pollution affects human health more severely than other air pollutants. The spread of air pollution and viruses, two of our millennium’s most serious concerns, have been linked closely. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can spread through the air, and PM could act as a host to spread the virus beyond those in close contact. Studies on COVID-19 cover diverse environmental segments and become complicated with time. As PM pollution is related to everyday life, an essential awareness regarding PM-impacted COVID-19 among the masses is required, which can help researchers understand the various features of ambient particulate pollution, particularly in the era of COVID-19. Given this, the present work provides an overview of the recent developments in COVID-19 research linked to ambient particulate studies. This review summarizes the effect of the lockdown on the characteristics of ambient particulate matter pollution, the transmission mechanism of COVID-19, and the combined health repercussions of PM pollution. In addition to a comprehensive evaluation of the implementation of the lockdown, its rationales—based on topographic and socioeconomic dynamics—are also discussed in detail. The current review is expected to encourage and motivate academics to concentrate on improving air quality management and COVID-19 control. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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14 pages, 1538 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Antimicrobial Performance of an Innovative Technology of Atmospheric Plasma Reactors against Bioaerosols: Effectiveness in Removing Airborne Viable Viruses

by Jérémie Pourchez, Aurélien Peyron, Gwendoline Sarry, Lara Leclerc, Paul O. Verhoeven, Peter Choi, Claude Pierson, Olivier Petit, Francisco Hernández and Carmen Dumitrescu

Buildings 2022, 12(10), 1587; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12101587 - 01 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1525

Abstract

Reducing the exposure to airborne contaminants, including bioaerosols containing viruses, is a key challenge in the context of indoor air quality. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of innovative Atmospheric Plasma Reactor (APR) technology, which can be included in air cleaner devices, [...] Read more.

Reducing the exposure to airborne contaminants, including bioaerosols containing viruses, is a key challenge in the context of indoor air quality. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of innovative Atmospheric Plasma Reactor (APR) technology, which can be included in air cleaner devices, as an engineering control tool for reducing the concentration of viable airborne viruses. We investigated the KillViD^TM APR technology that uses ultra-high electric fields and pulsed power plasma to directly electroporate living cells and produce advanced oxidizing species in situ within the micro-droplet aerosols containing the pathogens to be treated. An experimental setup was developed in order to aerosolize a high concentration of virus suspension directly into the air cleaner, containing 3 or 6 modules of 215 atmospheric plasma micro-reactors. As a virus surrogate, we used the phi11 bacteriophage which was aerosolized using a vibrating mesh nebulizer. The viability of airborne viruses after a single pass through the air cleaner was assessed by quantifying the lysis of a specific Staphylococcus aureus host strain. We were able to demonstrate that our virucidal results were robust and showed a 5-log reduction (99.999%) in terms of virucidal activity for the 3-module configuration, while we observed at least a 6-log reduction (from an initial viral load of 9.25 × 10⁵ PFU to 0) for the 6-module configuration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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16 pages, 3686 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

The Spatial Variation of the Influence of Lockdown on Air Quality across China and Its Major Influencing Factors during COVID-19

by Jing Yang, Xiao Chen, Qi Yao, Manchun Li, Miaoqing Xu, Qiancheng Lv, Bingbo Gao and Ziyue Chen

Atmosphere 2022, 13(10), 1597; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13101597 - 29 Sep 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1324

Abstract

China has experienced a series of COVID-19 recurrences in different cities across the country since 2020, and relatively strict (full lockdown) or lenient closure (semi-lockdown) strategies have been employed accordingly in each city. The differences in detailed transmission control measures during lockdown periods [...] Read more.

China has experienced a series of COVID-19 recurrences in different cities across the country since 2020, and relatively strict (full lockdown) or lenient closure (semi-lockdown) strategies have been employed accordingly in each city. The differences in detailed transmission control measures during lockdown periods led to distinct effects on air quality, which has rarely been studied. To fill this gap, we examined the effects of semi-lockdown and full lockdown on six major airborne pollutants, based on 55 lockdown cases. For all lockdown cases, the concentrations of PM_2.5, PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂ and CO were much lower than in previous years. Specifically, due to the stricter transmission control, the concentration of the five airborne pollutants experienced a much sharper decline during full lockdown. However, O₃ presented a different variation pattern during lockdown periods. Generally, O₃ concentrations presented a slight increase in semi-lockdown cases and a notable increase in full lockdown cases. Meanwhile, O₃ increased notably in northern China, particularly in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, while O₃ had a slight variation in southern China. The unique variation of O₃ across regions and lockdown types was mainly attributed to the spatial heterogeneity of O₃ formation regimes, especially the VOCs-controlled O₃ formation in northern China. Based on Geographical Detector, we examined the spatial continuity of natural and socio-economic factors on the variation of airborne pollutants during lockdown. In terms of meteorological factors, humidity and precipitation were the dominant factors for PM_2.5 and PM₁₀, respectively, while humidity and temperature were the dominant factors for O₃. In terms of socio-economic factors, the numbers of taxis and private cars were the dominant factors for PM_2.5 and O₃ variations during lockdown. GD also revealed that the combination of natural and socio-economic factors had a significantly enhanced effect on airborne pollutants during lockdown. The combination of relative humidity and total area of urban built-up areas exerted the strongest interactive effects on both PM_2.5 and O₃. This research highlighted the challenge for urban O₃ management, and suggested the control of VOCs emissions should be preferably considered, especially in northern China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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21 pages, 3039 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Compositional Data Analysis of 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing Results from Hospital Airborne Microbiome Samples

by Maria Rita Perrone, Salvatore Romano, Giuseppe De Maria, Paolo Tundo, Anna Rita Bruno, Luigi Tagliaferro, Michele Maffia and Mattia Fragola

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 10107; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610107 - 16 Aug 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2146

Abstract

The compositional analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing datasets is applied to characterize the bacterial structure of airborne samples collected in different locations of a hospital infection disease department hosting COVID-19 patients, as well as to investigate the relationships among bacterial taxa at [...] Read more.

The compositional analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing datasets is applied to characterize the bacterial structure of airborne samples collected in different locations of a hospital infection disease department hosting COVID-19 patients, as well as to investigate the relationships among bacterial taxa at the genus and species level. The exploration of the centered log-ratio transformed data by the principal component analysis via the singular value decomposition has shown that the collected samples segregated with an observable separation depending on the monitoring location. More specifically, two main sample clusters were identified with regards to bacterial genera (species), consisting of samples mostly collected in rooms with and without COVID-19 patients, respectively. Human pathogenic genera (species) associated with nosocomial infections were mostly found in samples from areas hosting patients, while non-pathogenic genera (species) mainly isolated from soil were detected in the other samples. Propionibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus pettenkoferi, Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum, and jeikeium were the main pathogenic species detected in COVID-19 patients’ rooms. Samples from these locations were on average characterized by smaller richness/evenness and diversity than the other ones, both at the genus and species level. Finally, the ρ metrics revealed that pairwise positive associations occurred either between pathogenic or non-pathogenic taxa. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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9 pages, 1558 KiB  

Open AccessBrief Report

Initially High Correlation between Air Pollution and COVID-19 Mortality Declined to Zero as the Pandemic Progressed: There Is No Evidence for a Causal Link between Air Pollution and COVID-19 Vulnerability

by Brandon Michael Taylor, Michael Ash and Lawrence Peter King

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 10000; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610000 - 13 Aug 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1338

Abstract

Wu et al. found a strong positive association between cumulative daily county-level COVID-19 mortality and long-term average PM_2.5 concentrations for data up until September 2020. We replicated the results of Wu et al. and extended the analysis up until May 2022. The [...] Read more.

Wu et al. found a strong positive association between cumulative daily county-level COVID-19 mortality and long-term average PM_2.5 concentrations for data up until September 2020. We replicated the results of Wu et al. and extended the analysis up until May 2022. The association between PM_2.5 concentration and cumulative COVID-19 mortality fell sharply after September 2020. Using the data available from Wu et al.’s “updated_data” branch up until May 2022, we found that the effect of a 1 μg/m³ increase in PM_2.5 was associated with only a +0.603% mortality difference. The 95% CI of this difference was between −0.560% and +1.78%, narrow bounds that include zero, with the upper bound far below the Wu et al. estimate. Short-term trends in the initial spread of COVID-19, not a long-term epidemiologic association, caused an early correlation between air pollution and COVID-19 mortality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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17 pages, 1907 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Dir-MUSIC Algorithm for DOA Estimation of Partial Discharge Based on Signal Strength Represented by Antenna Gain Array Manifold

by Wencong Xu, Bingshu Chen, Yandong Li, Yue Hu, Jianxun Li and Zijing Zeng

Sensors 2022, 22(14), 5406; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22145406 - 20 Jul 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1686

Abstract

Inspection robots are widely used in the field of smart grid monitoring in substations, and partial discharge (PD) is an important sign of the insulation state of equipment. PD direction of arrival (DOA) algorithms using conventional beam forming and time difference of arrival [...] Read more.

Inspection robots are widely used in the field of smart grid monitoring in substations, and partial discharge (PD) is an important sign of the insulation state of equipment. PD direction of arrival (DOA) algorithms using conventional beam forming and time difference of arrival (TDOA) require large-scale antenna arrays and high computational complexity, making them difficult to implement on inspection robots. To address this problem, a novel directional multiple signal classification (Dir-MUSIC) algorithm for PD direction finding based on signal strength is proposed, and a miniaturized directional spiral antenna circular array is designed in this paper. First, the Dir-MUSIC algorithm is derived based on the array manifold characteristics. This method uses strength intensity information rather than the TDOA information, which could reduce the computational difficulty and the requirement of array size. Second, the effects of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and array manifold error on the performance of the algorithm are discussed through simulations in detail. Then, according to the positioning requirements, the antenna array and its arrangement are developed and optimized. Simulation results suggested that the algorithm has reliable direction-finding performance in the form of six elements. Finally, the effectiveness of the algorithm is tested by using the designed spiral circular array in real scenarios. The experimental results show that the PD direction-finding error is $3.{39}^{°}$, which meets the need for partial discharge DOA estimation using inspection robots in substations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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12 pages, 1975 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Propagation and Diffusion of Fluorescent Substances with Footprints in Indoor Environments

by Manman Ma, Fei Li, Hao Han, Ziwang Zhao, Yuxiao Sun, Yuanqi Jing and Lei Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(13), 7733; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19137733 - 24 Jun 2022

Viewed by 1185

Abstract

Some studies have shown that contaminants can be transferred between floors and the soles, and there are few studies on pollutant propagation caused by human walking in real-life situations. This study explored the propagation and diffusion law of ground pollutants from rubber soles [...] Read more.

Some studies have shown that contaminants can be transferred between floors and the soles, and there are few studies on pollutant propagation caused by human walking in real-life situations. This study explored the propagation and diffusion law of ground pollutants from rubber soles to poly vinyl chloride (PVC) floor during indoor walking through employing a fluorescent solution as a simulant. The footprint decay (D) and transfer efficiency (τ) of the fluorescent solution transferred from the sole to the indoor floor during walking were analyzed based on the fluorescent footprint imaging. The effects of namely body weight (50–75 kg), walking frequency (80–120 steps/min), and solution viscosity (oil and water) were also investigated. It was found that the total fluorescence gray value on the ground decreased exponentially as the number of walking steps (i) increased. The relationship between the normalized gray value of the fluorescent solution (D) on each floor panel i was $D_i=a{e}^{bi},\left(2.1\le a\le 3.8,–1.4\le b\le –0.7\right)$, and τ was distributed in the range of 0.51–0.72. All influencing factors had a significant effect on a, and a greater body weight resulted in a smaller a value, while only the body weight had a significant effect on b and τ, and a greater body weight led to larger b and lower τ values. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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23 pages, 3680 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

COVID-19 and Lockdown: The Potential Impact of Residential Indoor Air Quality on the Health of Teleworkers

by Ana Ferreira and Nelson Barros

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(10), 6079; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106079 - 17 May 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1947

Abstract

In addition to outdoor atmospheric contamination, indoor exposure to pollutants is a prime contributor to the overall human exposure, and may condition the expressiveness and severity of respiratory, cardiovascular, and allergic diseases. This situation has worsened due to COVID-19, as people have spent [...] Read more.

In addition to outdoor atmospheric contamination, indoor exposure to pollutants is a prime contributor to the overall human exposure, and may condition the expressiveness and severity of respiratory, cardiovascular, and allergic diseases. This situation has worsened due to COVID-19, as people have spent more time indoors to comply with social isolation and mandatory telework. The primary purpose of this study was to assess and compare indoor air quality (IAQ) in a significant sample of dwellings of workers from a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Portugal who were teleworking and their usual workplace. The levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and formaldehyde, particles with equivalent diameters of less than 10 μm, 5 μm, 2.5 μm, 1 μm, 0.5 μm, and 0.3 μm, and ultrafine particles, as well as the level of thermal comfort, were measured at both of the sites assessed. It was found that most of the houses studied, as well as the HEI, had good IAQ, although there were places where the concentrations of some pollutants were above the legal standards. On the other hand, a link was identified between the IAQ and the symptoms and diseases observed in the workers who participated in the study. These results offer the opportunity to make corrective interventions, thereby controlling the sources of pollutants and promoting better ventilation in order to reduce the risk for workers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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20 pages, 3853 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Post-Occupancy Evaluation of the Biophilic Design in the Workplace for Health and Wellbeing

by Qinghua Lei, Stephen Siu Yu Lau, Chao Yuan and Yi Qi

Buildings 2022, 12(4), 417; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12040417 - 31 Mar 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5420

Abstract

There is mounting evidence suggesting that workplace design directly connects with workers’ health and wellbeing. Additionally, the personal status of the mind can affect subjective attitudes and feelings towards the environment. In this study, the impacts of biophilic design attributes in offices on [...] Read more.

There is mounting evidence suggesting that workplace design directly connects with workers’ health and wellbeing. Additionally, the personal status of the mind can affect subjective attitudes and feelings towards the environment. In this study, the impacts of biophilic design attributes in offices on workers’ health and wellbeing are examined. A new post-occupancy evaluation (POE) questionnaire is developed for evaluating the biophilic design for workplace health and wellbeing. A questionnaire and field observations of two green building offices in Singapore and Shenzhen, China, are performed. The main obtained results are: (i) the questionnaire results show that the workers have a moderately high evaluation of the biophilic attributes in the workplace for improving health and wellbeing; (ii) there are significant differences between the self-reported health and nature relatedness of various ages and genders. Furthermore, the present study provides designers with new weighted biophilic design guidelines, specifically for workplace design practices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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13 pages, 2593 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of COVID-19 Related Changes on Air Quality in Birmingham, Alabama, United States

by Diya Jacob, Samuel Stowe, Iyinoluwa Babarinde, Aakruti Sharma, Abigail Christopher and M. J. Ruzmyn Vilcassim

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(6), 3168; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063168 - 08 Mar 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2077

Abstract

Air pollution is responsible for a wide range of health effects in exposed populations. Variations in local air pollution can affect local population health outcomes. The strict regulations imposed during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic (‘lockdowns’) resulted in a unique situation where [...] Read more.

Air pollution is responsible for a wide range of health effects in exposed populations. Variations in local air pollution can affect local population health outcomes. The strict regulations imposed during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic (‘lockdowns’) resulted in a unique situation where human mobility was limited significantly, resulting in improved air quality in several major cities. The main goal of this study was to investigate if lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted air quality in Birmingham, Alabama—a city with a history of high air pollution levels—with a focus on PM_2.5 (Particulate Matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 µm) and NO₂ (Nitrogen dioxide). Daily air pollutant and traffic data were obtained for the Birmingham Metropolitan Area for the period January to October 2020, and previous years. Mean PM_2.5 and NO₂ concentrations and traffic volumes during the official city/state lockdown period (24 March to 30 April 2020) were compared to pre- and post-lockdown means. The mean PM_2.5 and NO₂ concentrations during the lockdown did not significantly differ from that of the pre- or post-lockdown periods. However, NO₂ significantly decreased even after the lockdown order was removed, with the mean decreasing significantly compared to pre-lockdown and lockdown periods. Both PM_2.5 and NO₂ annual means in 2020 were significantly lower than the annual means in 2019, indicating the occurrence of significant changes over the longer term that were not limited by defined lockdown periods. Traffic significantly increased after the lockdown order was removed but did not correlate with the two pollutants studied. Therefore, we conclude that the Stay at Home/lockdown regulations and other COVID-19 restrictions had an impact on the air quality of Birmingham Alabama; although these lockdown impacts varied for each pollutant and were not limited only by the official lockdown dates/periods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality in the Era of COVID-19)

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