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Substantial Changes of Gaseous Pollutants and Health Effects During the COVID-19 Lockdown Period Across China.

ABSTRACT: The human movement and economic activities have been drastically reduced due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, leading to the sharp decreases of pollutant emissions and remarkable air quality improvement. Nevertheless, however, the changes of gaseous pollutant concentrations and health effects across China during the COVID-19 lockdown period remained poorly understood. Here, a random forest model was applied to assess the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on pollutant concentrations and potential health effects. The results suggested that estimated NO₂, SO₂, and CO concentrations in China during January 23-March 31, 2020 decreased by 13.68%, 25.71%, and 7.42%, respectively compared with the same periods in 2018-2019. Nonetheless, the predicted 8-h O₃ concentrations across China suffered from 1.29% increases during this period. The avoided premature all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), respiratory disease (RD), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mortalities induced by NO₂ decrease during COVID-19 lockdown period reached 3,954 (3,076-4,832), 635 (468-801), 612 (459-765), and 920 (653-1,186) cases. However, the increases of all-cause, CVD, RD, and COPD mortalities due to O₃ increase during COVID-19 lockdown period achieved 462 (250-674), 79 (29-129), 40 (-25-105), and 52 (-34-138) cases. The natural experiment demonstrated the drastic emission reduction measures could significantly decrease the NO₂, SO₂, and CO concentrations, while they significantly elevated the O₃ concentration. It is highly imperative to propose more coordinated air pollution control strategies to control O₃ pollution.

SUBMITTER: Ling C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8144698 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundCoronavirus disease has affected the entire population worldwide in terms of physical and environmental consequences. Therefore, the current study demonstrates the changes in the concentration of gaseous pollutants and their health effects during the COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi, the national capital city of India.MethodologyIn the present study, secondary data on gaseous pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ammonia (NH3), and ozone (O3) were collected from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on a daily basis. Data were collected from January 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020, to determine the relative changes (%) in gaseous pollutants for pre-lockdown, lockdown, and unlockdown stages of COVID-19.ResultsThe current findings for gaseous pollutants reveal that concentration declined in the range of 51%-83% (NO), 40%-69% (NOx), 31%-60% (NO2), and 25%-40% (NH3) during the lockdown compared to pre-lockdown period, respectively. The drastic decrease in gaseous pollutants was observed due to restricted measures during lockdown periods. The level of ozone was observed to be higher during the lockdown periods as compared to the pre-lockdown period. These gaseous pollutants are linked between the health risk assessment and hazard identification for non-carcinogenic. However, in infants (0-1 yr), Health Quotient (HQ) for daily and annual groups was found to be higher than the rest of the exposed group (toddlers, children, and adults) in all the periods.ConclusionThe air quality values for pre-lockdown were calculated to be "poor category to "very poor" category in all zones of Delhi, whereas, during the lockdown period, the air quality levels for all zones were calculated as "satisfactory," except for Northeast Delhi, which displayed the "moderate" category. The computed HQ for daily chronic exposure for each pollutant across the child and adult groups was more than 1 (HQ > 1), which indicated a high probability to induce adverse health outcomes.

Project description:BackgroundDue to the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Belgian government set out a range of measures to prevent the spread of the virus. One measure included closing all non-food shops, including vape shops.MethodsA retrospective online questionnaire was used to investigate the impact of closing the vape shops on the vaping and/or smoking behavior of current vapers.ResultsThe sample (n = 202) reached consisted of 70% exclusive vapers, 29% dual users and 1% no-product users. Over half (55%, 112/202) of participants needed to buy e-liquid during the lockdown, with a small majority being able to buy e-liquids - mostly with their usual nicotine concentrations, flavor or brand -, but as much as 39% (44/112) of them ran out of e-liquid. Those buying e-liquid mainly did so by making purchases via foreign online webshops. A similar pattern was observed with respect to purchasing hardware, with about half (47%, 95/202) of participants reporting hardware availability and with a small majority (53%, 107/202) reporting hardware unavailability. Of those indicating that hardware was not available, 38% (41/107) ran out of a properly functioning e-cigarette. A non-trivial minority had to consume e-liquids with another nicotine concentration, flavor or brand than usual. One seventh of exclusive vapers before lockdown relapsed partly or completely to smoking during the lockdown. The main reasons for changing vaping and/or smoking behavior included the unavailability of e-liquid with nicotine, the unavailability of hardware, and stress/worries about COVID-19.ConclusionsThe majority of vapers succeeded in maintaining their vaping behavior as usual, highly likely due to (illegally) buying consumables online. Nevertheless, for a minority the lockdown period resulted in unintended consequences and these vapers relapsed (completely) to smoking. Even during periods of lockdown, smokers and vapers should be able to purchase low(er)-risk alternatives to smoking, for example e-cigarettes.

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Substantial Changes of Gaseous Pollutants and Health Effects During the COVID-19 Lockdown Period Across China.

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