The Impact of COVID-19 Partial Lockdown on Primary Pollutant Concentrations in the Atmosphere of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo Megacities (Brazil).
Bull Environ Contam Toxicol
; 105(1): 2-8, 2020 Jul.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-597452
ABSTRACT
As COVID-19 spread all over the world, most of the countries adopted some kind of restrictions to avoid the collapse of health systems. In Brazil, São Paulo and Rio the Janeiro, the two most populated cities in the country, were the first to determine social distancing. In this study, the impact of the social distancing measures on the concentrations of the three main primary air pollutants (PM10, NO2 and CO) was analyzed. CO levels showed the most significant reductions (up to 100%) since it is related to light-duty vehicular emissions. NO2 also showed reductions (9.1%-41.8%) while PM10 levels were only reduced in the 1st lockdown week. The decrease of pollutants was not directly proportional to the vehicular flux reduction, because it depends on other factors such as the transport of air masses from industrial and rural areas. The differences observed can be explained considering the fleet characteristics in the two cities and the response of the population to the social distancing recommendations.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Atmosphere
/
Communicable Disease Control
/
Environmental Monitoring
/
Disease Outbreaks
/
Air Pollution
/
Pandemics
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Brazil
Language:
English
Journal:
Bull Environ Contam Toxicol
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S00128-020-02907-9
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