Highlights Variations in air quality in terms of CO, SO 2 , PM 10 , O 3 and NO 2 levels were studied. The lockdown of Spain was not able to reduce severe air pollution in all its forms. Significant reductions of NO 2 levels were achieved in most cities. Increases of O3 pollution levels were found in several cities.

For some time now, chemistry has not had a good reputation in society. The population identifies this discipline with industries and pollution, while its positive contributions are usually ignored. This fear of chemistry may affect the opinion of society toward not only science, but also the scientific work itself. To assess the prevalence of this social phenomenon among them, a group of 351 preuniversity students was surveyed and the answers provided were analyzed based on their characteristics (age, sex, and location). The results support the usefulness of the developed questionnaire and show that there already exists a tendency to reject everything “containing chemicals” or that “is not natural” at these ages. An influence of the students’ sociocultural environment and years of schooling is noticed concerning the ideas they manifest. In light of this situation, the potential implications for the learning and teaching processes of chemistry are commented on.

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PurpuseThe COVID-19 outbreak has escalated into the worse pandemic of the present century. The fast spread of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has caused devastating health and economic crises all over the world, with Spain being one of the worst affected countries in terms of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths per inhabitant. In this situation, the Spanish Government declared the lockdown of the country. Methods The variations of air pollution in terms of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) levels in seven representative cities of Spain are analyzed here considering the effect of meteorology during the national lockdown. The possible associations of PM 2.5 pollution and climate with COVID-19 accumulated cases were also analyzed. Results While the epidemic curve was flattened, the results of the analysis show that the 4-week Spanish lockdown significantly reduced the PM 2.5 levels in only one city despite the drastically reduced human activity. Furthermore, no associations between either PM 2.5 exposure or environmental conditions and COVID-19 transmission were found during the early spread of the pandemic. Conclusions A longer period applying human activity restrictions is necessary in order to achieve significant reductions of PM 2.5 levels in all the analyzed cities. No effect of PM 2.5 pollution or weather on COVID-19 incidence was found for these pollutant levels and period of time.

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