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Spatiotemporal impacts of COVID-19 on air pollution in California, USA.

ABSTRACT: Various recent studies have shown that societal efforts to mitigate (e.g. "lockdown") the outbreak of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused non-negligible impacts on the environment, especially air quality. To examine if interventional policies due to COVID-19 have had a similar impact in the US state of California, this paper investigates the spatiotemporal patterns and changes in air pollution before, during and after the lockdown of the state, comparing the air quality measurements in 2020 with historical averages from 2015 to 2019. Through time series analysis, a sudden drop and uptick of air pollution are found around the dates when shutdown and reopening were ordered, respectively. The spatial patterns of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) tropospheric vertical column density (TVCD) show a decreasing trend over the locations of major powerplants and an increasing trend over residential areas near interactions of national highways. Ground-based observations around California show a 38%, 49%, and 31% drop in the concentration of NO₂, carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter 2.5 (PM_2.5) during the lockdown (March 19-May 7) compared to before (January 26-March 18) in 2020. These are 16%, 25% and 19% sharper than the means of the previous five years in the same periods, respectively. Our study offers evidence of the environmental impact introduced by COVID-19, and insight into related economic influences.

SUBMITTER: Liu Q

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7416771 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Spatiotemporal impacts of COVID-19 on air pollution in California, USA.

Liu Qian Q Harris Jackson T JT Chiu Long S LS Sun Donglian D Houser Paul R PR Yu Manzhu M Duffy Daniel Q DQ Little Michael M MM Yang Chaowei C

The Science of the total environment 20200810

Various recent studies have shown that societal efforts to mitigate (e.g. "lockdown") the outbreak of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused non-negligible impacts on the environment, especially air quality. To examine if interventional policies due to COVID-19 have had a similar impact in the US state of California, this paper investigates the spatiotemporal patterns and changes in air pollution before, during and after the lockdown of the state, comparing the air quality measurements i ...[more]

PMID: 32882494

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Project description:BackgroundAir pollution exposure has been associated with increased risk of COVID-19 incidence and mortality by ecological analyses. Few studies have investigated the specific effect of traffic-related air pollution on COVID-19 severity.ObjectiveTo investigate the associations of near-roadway air pollution (NRAP) exposure with COVID-19 severity and mortality using individual-level exposure and outcome data.MethodsThe retrospective cohort includes 75,010 individuals (mean age 42.5 years, 54% female, 66% Hispanic) diagnosed with COVID-19 at Kaiser Permanente Southern California between 3/1/2020-8/31/2020. NRAP exposures from both freeways and non-freeways during 1-year prior to the COVID-19 diagnosis date were estimated based on residential address history using the CALINE4 line source dispersion model. Primary outcomes include COVID-19 severity defined as COVID-19-related hospitalizations, intensive respiratory support (IRS), intensive care unit (ICU) admissions within 30 days, and mortality within 60 days after COVID-19 diagnosis. Covariates including socio-characteristics and comorbidities were adjusted for in the analysis.ResultOne standard deviation (SD) increase in 1-year-averaged non-freeway NRAP (0.5 ppb NOx) was associated with increased odds of COVID-19-related IRS and ICU admission [OR (95% CI): 1.07 (1.01, 1.13) and 1.11 (1.04, 1.19) respectively] and increased risk of mortality (HR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.18). The associations of non-freeway NRAP with COVID-19 outcomes were largely independent of the effect of regional fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide exposures. These associations were generally consistent across age, sex, and race/ethnicity subgroups. The associations of freeway and total NRAP with COVID-19 severity and mortality were not statistically significant.ConclusionsData from this multiethnic cohort suggested that NRAP, particularly non-freeway exposure in Southern California, may be associated with increased risk of COVID-19 severity and mortality among COVID-19 infected patients. Future studies are needed to assess the impact of emerging COVID-19 variants and chemical components from freeway and non-freeway NRAP.

Project description:A growing number of studies report associations between air pollution and COVID-19 mortality. Most were ecological studies at the county or regional level which disregard important local variability and relied on data from only the first few months of the pandemic. Using COVID-19 deaths identified from death certificates in California, we evaluated whether long-term ambient air pollution was related to weekly COVID-19 mortality at the census tract-level during the first ∼12 months of the pandemic. Weekly COVID-19 mortality for each census tract was calculated based on geocoded death certificate data. Annual average concentrations of ambient particulate matter <2.5 μm (PM2.5) and <10 μm (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) over 2014-2019 were assessed for all census tracts using inverse distance-squared weighting based on data from the ambient air quality monitoring system. Negative binomial mixed models related weekly census tract COVID-19 mortality counts to a natural cubic spline for calendar week. We included adjustments for potential confounders (census tract demographic and socioeconomic factors), random effects for census tract and county, and an offset for census tract population. Data were analyzed as two study periods: Spring/Summer (March 16-October 18, 2020) and Winter (October 19, 2020-March 7, 2021). Mean (standard deviation) concentrations were 10.3 (2.1) μg/m3 for PM2.5, 25.5 (7.1) μg/m3 for PM10, 11.3 (4.0) ppb for NO2, and 42.8 (6.9) ppb for O3. For Spring/Summer, adjusted rate ratios per standard deviation increase were 1.13 (95% confidence interval: 1.09, 1.17) for PM2.5, 1.16 (1.11, 1.21) for PM10, 1.06 (1.02, 1.10) for NO2, and 1.09 (1.04, 1.14) for O3. Associations were replicated in Winter, although they were attenuated for PM2.5 and PM10. Study findings support a relation between long-term ambient air pollution exposure and COVID-19 mortality. Communities with historically high pollution levels might be at higher risk of COVID-19 mortality.

Project description:This study evaluates the COVID-19 impacts on traffic-related air pollution, including ultrafine particles (UFPs), PM2.5, black carbon (BC), NO, NO2, NOx, and CO in a Northwestern US city. Hourly traffic, air pollutants, and meteorological data on/near a major freeway in the downtown of Seattle, Washington, were collected for five weeks before and ten weeks after the Washington Stay Home Order (SHO) was enacted, respectively (February 17-May 31, 2020). The pollutants between pre- and post-SHO periods were compared, and their differences were statistically tested. Besides, first-order multivariate autoregressive (MAR(1)) models were developed to reveal the impacts specific to the change of traffic due to the COVID-19 responses while controlling for meteorological conditions. Results indicate that compared with those in the post-SHO period, the median traffic volume and road occupancy decreased by 37% and 52%, respectively. As for pollutants, the median BC and PM2.5 levels significantly decreased by 25% and 33%, relatively, while NO, NO2, NOx, and CO decreased by 33%, 29%, 30%, and 17%, respectively. In contrast, neither size-resolved UFPs nor total UFPs showed significant changes between the two periods, although larger particles (?115.5 nm) decreased by 4-29%. Additionally, significant differences were found in meteorological conditions between the two periods. Based on the MAR(1) models, controlling for meteorological conditions, the COVID-19 responses were associated with significant decreases in median levels of traffic-related pollutants including 11.5-154.0 nm particles (ranging from -3% [95% confidence interval (CI): -1%, -4%] to -12% [95% CI: -10%, -14%]), total UFPs (-7% [95% CI: -5%, -8%]), BC (-6% [95% CI: -5%, -7%]), PM2.5 (-2% [95% CI: -1%, -3%]), NO, NO2, NOx (ranging from -3% [95% CI: -2%, -4%] to -10% [95% CI: -18%, -12%]), and CO (-4% [95% CI, -3%, -5%]). These findings illustrate that the conclusion of the COVID-19 impacts on urban traffic-related air pollutant levels could be completely different in scenarios whether meteorology was adjusted for or not. Fully adjusting for meteorology, this study shows that the COVID-19 responses were associated with much more reductions in traffic-related UFPs than PM2.5 in the Seattle region, in contrast to the reverse trend from the direct empirical data comparison.

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Spatiotemporal impacts of COVID-19 on air pollution in California, USA.

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Spatiotemporal impacts of COVID-19 on air pollution in California, USA.

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