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. 2021 Jan:192:110403.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.110403. Epub 2020 Nov 2.

Air pollution declines during COVID-19 lockdowns mitigate the global health burden

Zander S Venter  1 , Kristin Aunan  2 , Sourangsu Chowdhury  3 , Jos Lelieveld  4
Affiliations

Air pollution declines during COVID-19 lockdowns mitigate the global health burden

Zander S Venter et al. Environ Res. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

The lockdown response to COVID-19 has resulted in an unprecedented reduction in global economic activity and associated air pollutant levels, especially from a decline in land transportation. We utilized a network of >10,000 air quality stations distributed over 34 countries during lockdown dates up until 15 May 2020 to obtain lockdown related anomalies for nitrogen dioxide, ozone and particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5). Pollutant anomalies were related to short-term health outcomes using empirical exposure-response functions. We estimate that there were a net total of 49,900 (11,000 to 90,000; 95% confidence interval) excess deaths and 89,000 (64,700 to 107,000) pediatric asthma emergency room visits avoided during lockdowns. In China and India alone, the PM2.5-related avoided excess mortality was 19,600 (15,300 to 24,000) and 30,500 (5700 to 68,000), respectively. While the state of COVID-19 imposed lockdown is not sustainable, these findings illustrate the potential health benefits gained by reducing "business as usual" air pollutant emissions from economic activities primarily through finding alternative transportation solutions.

Keywords: Mortality; Nitrogen dioxide; Particulate matter; Pediatric asthma; Public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Post-lockdown health burden changes attributable to air pollution. Air pollution anomalies during lockdown are converted to changes in mortality and asthma exacerbation (n = 34 countries). Total health burden avoided (-ve) and incurred (+ve) values are presented with bars along a log-transformed x-axis. 95% uncertainty intervals are marked with error bars. Hollow bars represent estimates where the change in pollutant concentrations were not significant (p > 0.05) after accounting for weather variations.
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