Insignificant Impact of the “Stay-At-Home” Order on Ambient Air Quality in the Memphis Metropolitan Area, U.S.A.

Jia, Chunrong; Fu, Xianqiang; Bartelli, Debra; Smith, Larry

doi:10.3390/atmos11060630

Cited by 29 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For instance, in March 2020, on average, hourly observations of NO 2 concentration in Madrid and Barcelona showed, respectively, 62% and 50% reductions compared with the 2019 data. Such reductions, however, have not been reported for American cities such as Memphis and New York ( Jia et al, 2020 ; Zangari et al, 2020 ). This may indicate that traffic emission contributions to air pollution are small in those cities ( Jia et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Such reductions, however, have not been reported for American cities such as Memphis and New York ( Jia et al, 2020 ; Zangari et al, 2020 ). This may indicate that traffic emission contributions to air pollution are small in those cities ( Jia et al, 2020 ). In contrast, significant reductions reported for Brazilian, Chinese, Indian, and South Asian cities indicate that greening the transportation sector can provide major air quality benefits ( Dantas et al, 2020 ; Filonchyk et al, 2020 ; Sharma et al, 2020 ; Kanniah et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts on cities and major lessons for urban planning, design, and management

Sharifi

Khavarian-Garmsir

2020

Science of The Total Environment

840

556

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Since the early days of the COVID-19 crisis the scientific community has constantly been striving to shed light on various issues such as the mechanisms driving the spread of the virus, its environmental and socio-economic impacts, and necessary recovery and adaptation plans and policies. Given the high concentration of population and economic activities in cities, they are often hotspots of COVID-19 infections. Accordingly, many researchers are struggling to explore the dynamics of the pandemic in urban areas to understand impacts of COVID-19 on cities. In this study we seek to provide an overview of COVID-19 research related to cities by reviewing literature published during the first eight months after the first confirmed cases were reported in Wuhan, China. The main aims are to understand impacts of the pandemic on cities and to highlight major lessons that can be learned for post-COVID urban planning and design. Results show that, in terms of thematic focus, early research on the impacts of COVID-19 on cities is mainly related to four major themes, namely, (1) environmental quality, (2) socio-economic impacts, (3) management and governance, and (4) transportation and urban design. While this indicates a diverse research agenda, the first theme that covers issues related to air quality, meteorological parameters, and water quality is dominant, and the others are still relatively underexplored. Improvements in air and water quality in cities during lockdown periods highlight the significant environmental impacts of anthropogenic activities and provide a wake-up call to adopt environmentally friendly development pathways. The paper also provides other recommendations related to the socio-economic factors, urban management and governance, and transportation and urban design that can be used for post-COVID urban planning and design. Overall, existing knowledge shows that the COVID-19 crisis entails an excellent opportunity for planners and policy makers to take transformative actions towards creating cities that are more just, resilient, and sustainable.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

The COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts on cities and major lessons for urban planning, design, and management

Sharifi

Khavarian-Garmsir

2020

Science of The Total Environment

840

556

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The measures implemented by the governments of different countries have caused numerous environmental impacts, some of which can be considered positive, such as the improvement in air and water quality in urban areas, whereas others have been negative, such as the deterioration of the quality of coastal effluents due to the elimination of sanitary supplies [ 11 ]. The improvement in air quality has been particularly notable in large cities in China, where outdoor pollution levels (NO 2 and PM 2.5 ) have decreased significantly during lockdown [ 12 , 13 ]. In European cities like Barcelona, NO 2 concentrations were reduced by half during the lockdown, PM decreased lower, and O 3 concentrations increased by around 50% [ 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bad Air Can Also Kill: Residential Indoor Air Quality and Pollutant Exposure Risk during the COVID-19 Crisis

Domínguez-Amarillo

Fernández-Agüera

Cesteros-García

et al. 2020

IJERPH

107

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the first outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic the population, focusing primarily on the risk of infection, was generally inattentive to the quality of indoor air. Spain, and the city of Madrid in particular, were among the world’s coronavirus hotspots. The country’s entire population was subject to a 24/7 lockdown for 45 days. This paper describes a comparative longitudinal survey of air quality in four types of housing in the city of Madrid before and during lockdown. The paper analysed indoor temperatures and variations in CO2, 2.5 μm particulate matter (PM2.5) and total volatile organic compound (TVOC) concentrations before and during lockdown. The mean daily outdoor PM2.5 concentration declined from 11.04 µg/m3 before to 7.10 µg/m3 during lockdown. Before lockdown the NO2 concentration values scored as ‘very good’ 46% of the time, compared to 90.9% during that period. Although the city’s outdoor air quality improved, during lockdown the population’s exposure to indoor pollutants was generally more acute and prolonged. Due primarily to concern over domestic energy savings, the lack of suitable ventilation and more intensive use of cleaning products and disinfectants during the covid-19 crisis, indoor pollutant levels were typically higher than compatible with healthy environments. Mean daily PM2.5 concentration rose by approximately 12% and mean TVOC concentration by 37% to 559%. The paper also puts forward a series of recommendations to improve indoor domestic environments in future pandemics and spells out urgent action to be taken around indoor air quality (IAQ) in the event of total or partial quarantining to protect residents from respiratory ailments and concomitantly enhanced susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, as identified by international medical research.

show abstract

“…Regarding carbon monoxide, stations decreased its concentration after lockdown and others increased it, as it was reported in USA [19], Italy [ 29 ] and by interdisciplinary studies developed for 40 cities [ 30 ]. The highest decreases starting from the pre-lockdown values were observed in stations of Sevilla (-45.0% from 477 µg m -3 ), Jaen (-48.7% from 432 µg m -3 ), Cadiz (-52.6% from 522 µg m -3 ) and Huelva (-58.2% from 705 µg m -3 ), with values two times higher than in Cordoba (-32.7% from 370 µg m -3 ) and Granada (-33.0% from 363 µg m -3 ).…”

Section: Nitrogen Dioxide and Carbon Monoxidementioning

confidence: 51%

Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Air Quality and Health. Association between Concentrations of Tropospheric Ozone and Infection Cases and Deaths in Spain

Álvarez-Vázquez

Castro-Guijarro

Fernández-Espinosa

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundThis work describes the changes of the air quality and the health implications caused by the lockdown of the first-wave provoked by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Air pollutants were studied in 83 locations in Southern Spain. The study covered urban and industrial gases, NO2, CO, SO2, H2S and O3, and also PM10 and PM2.5 particles.MethodsIt was evaluated the increase and decrease of concentrations during the state of alarm declared on 14th March. Pearson correlations for air pollutants, meteorological factors, vehicular traffic densities (VTDs) and data of infections and deaths caused by the COVID-19 disease were also assessed.ResultsIt was found a clear reduction in carbon monoxide (-25% to -83%), particulate matter (-21% to -42%) and mainly nitrogen dioxide (-55% to -81%) in trafficked areas during the lockdown, reducing cardiovascular and respiratory problems. CO, SO2 and H2S increased (+26 to 34%, +68 to +85% and +32 to +84%) at industrial locations. O3 increased along the lockdown period coinciding with reductions in NO2 and CO (r = -0.90 and -0.81). This ozone rising constitute the ozone lockdown effect (OLE), increasing the risk of pneumonia hospital admissions. Regarding traffic, Pearson coefficients between ozone and VTDs were higher during lockdown than pre-lockdown period, and in the most trafficked areas a reduction in PM10 and PM2.5 levels was observed, contributing this also to the OLE.ConclusionsEffects of ozone on COVID-19 disease was revealed by the graphic associations and correlations found between O3 levels and infection cases and deaths, which were remarkable, constituting in this case the ozone COVID effect (OCE): when concentrations of O3 increase, the incidence of the disease is higher; when O3 falls, infection cases are reduced.

show abstract

Insignificant Impact of the “Stay-At-Home” Order on Ambient Air Quality in the Memphis Metropolitan Area, U.S.A.

Cited by 29 publications

References 19 publications

The COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts on cities and major lessons for urban planning, design, and management

The COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts on cities and major lessons for urban planning, design, and management

Bad Air Can Also Kill: Residential Indoor Air Quality and Pollutant Exposure Risk during the COVID-19 Crisis

Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Air Quality and Health. Association between Concentrations of Tropospheric Ozone and Infection Cases and Deaths in Spain

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About