ABSTRACT
At the end of 2019, the COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China. It has since put global public health institutions on high alert. People in China reduced their traveling, and production has stopped nationwide during the height of the epidemic. This study explores the effects of these COVID-19-derived changes on air quality in China. Air quality data of 367 cities around China were analyzed. The daily air quality index and air pollutant concentrations (CO, O3, NO2, SO2, PM10, and PM2.5) were collected and compared the epidemic period (23.1.2020-23.3.2020) with the preceding two months (22.11.2019-22.1.2020) and the parallel period the year before (23.1.2019-23.3.2019).To compare, we calculated the daily average number of cities with pollution, and the trend in air quality index change. The air quality in the 50 cities with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and Wuhan was also analyzed. During the period between 23.1.2020 and 23.3.2020, the number of cities with excellent air quality was significantly higher than that in the other two periods. The concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, CO, and O3 decreased significantly during this period. The most significant decreases were in PM10 and NO2. The number of cities with good air quality in the later period was significantly higher than a year before. The air quality has improved significantly during the COVID-19 outbreak. The reason for this change might be changes in human activities such as reduced transportation and production stoppage.
Subject(s)
COVID-19ABSTRACT
Background: The coronavirus pneumonia is still spreading around the world. Much progress has been made in vaccine development, and vaccination will become an inevitable trend in the fight against this pandemic. However, the public acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination still remains uncertain. Methods: By calculating the sample size of random sampling, anonymous questionnaire was used in Wen Juan Xing survey platform. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the key sociodemographic, cognitive, and attitude associations with samples of healthcare workers and nonhealth care workers. Findings: A total of 2580 respondents have completed the questionnaire, including 1,329 healthcare workers and 1,251 nonhealthcare workers. This study showed that 76.98% of healthcare workers accepted the COVID-19 vaccine, 18.28% workers were hesitant, and 4.74% workers were resistant. Among the nonhealthcare workers, 56.19% workers received the COVID-19 vaccine, 37.57% workers were hesitant, and 6.24% workers were resistant. Among the healthcare workers, compared with vaccine recipients, vaccine-hesitant individuals were more likely to be female (AOR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.12–2.07); vaccine-resistant individuals were more likely to live in the suburbs (AOR = 2.81, 95% CI: 1.44–3.99) with an income of 10,000 RMB or greater (AOR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.03–3.90). Among the nonhealthcare workers, vaccine-hesitant individuals were more likely to be female (AOR = 1.66, 95% CI: 1.31–2.11); vaccine-resistant individuals were also more likely to be female (AOR =1.87, 95% CI: 1.16–3.02) and older than 65 years (AOR = 4.96, 95% CI: 1.40–7.62). There are great differences between healthcare workers and nonhealthcare workers in their cognition and attitude towards vaccines. Interpretation: Our study shows that healthcare workers are more willing to be vaccinated than nonhealthcare workers. Current vaccine safety issues continue to be a major factor affecting public acceptance, and to expand vaccine coverage in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, appropriate vaccination strategies and immunization programs are essential, especially for nonhealthcare workers.Funding: Medical and Technology Project of Zhejiang ProvinceDeclaration of Interest: None to declare. Ethical Approval: This study is a nation-wide cross-sectional study in China; the ethics committee ofAffiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University approved all the procedures performed.