Influence of lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution and carcinogenic content of particulate matter ob
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Influence of lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution and carcinogenic content of particulate matter observed in Croatia Ivana Jakovljević 1
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Zdravka Sever Štrukil 1 & Ranka Godec 1 & Silvije Davila 1 & Gordana Pehnec 1
Received: 4 August 2020 / Accepted: 29 September 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Due to the pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 in Croatia, all unnecessary activities were prohibited during the designated lockdown period (March–May 2020). With reduced human activity, levels of some air pollutants decreased. In this study, mass concentrations of the PM1 particle fraction (particulate matter with an equivalent aerodynamic diameter < 1 μm) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in PM1 and NO2 were measured and compared with concentrations measured in the same period the year before. Air pollutant concentrations were measured at two measuring sites: urban residential and urban traffic. Our results show a concentration decrease by 35% for NO2 and PM1 particles and by 26% for total PAHs at the traffic measuring site. At the residential measuring site, only concentrations of NO2 decreased slightly, but PM1 particles and PAHs were similar to the year before. Keywords Air pollution . COVID-19 pandemic . PAHs . PM1 . NO2
Introduction At the end of 2019, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic emerged in China (Tian et al. 2020; Wang et al. 2020). The first case in Croatia was detected on 25 February 2020 and after that, the number of cases rapidly increased (www. koronavirus.hr). The pandemic caused over 16.8 million global infections and thus far more than half of million deaths (28th July 2020) (https://covid19.who.int/). At the moment of writing this paper, the number of registered infections by COVID-19 in Croatia was 4993 and deaths 141. To prevent the rapid increase of COVID-19 infections, at the beginning of the epidemic, the Civil Protection Directorate of Croatia required people to stay at home. Every school and faculty in the country was closed beginning from 15 March until the end of the school year (20 June). Public transport between and within cities was suspended as well. Only a week later, all human activities were reduced to only the bare minimum, resulting in a significant reduction in
* Ivana Jakovljević [email protected] 1
Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Ksaverska cesta 2, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
the number of vehicles on the streets. This “lockdown” period lasted until 15 May 2020. The last week before the end of “lockdown”, the number of daily infection was minor. Vehicle exhaust emissions are the most significant source of urban NO2 and a significant source of PM1 particles. PM1 particles are particles with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 1 μm and are considered to be of importance in the context of adverse health effects induced by particulate pollution (Wenger et al. 2009). However, measurements of PM1 and its content are not part of routine air quality monitoring, although they may contain significant amounts of harmful compounds. P
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