Short-term health effects of air quality changes during the COVID‑19 pandemic in the City of Novi Sad, the Republic of Serbia
Objectives The objective of this research is to determine the change in outdoor air quality during the COVID‑19 related state of emergency resulting in a lockdown and the potential health benefits for the urban population. Material and Methods During 53 days of the COVID‑19 related state of emergen...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine
2021-05-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ijomeh.eu/Short-term-health-effects-of-air-quality-changes-during-the-COVID-19-pandemic-in,132585,0,2.html |
| Summary: | Objectives
The objective of this research is to determine the change in outdoor air quality during the COVID‑19 related state of emergency resulting
in a lockdown and the potential health benefits for the urban population.
Material and Methods
During 53 days of the COVID‑19 related state
of emergency with a lockdown (March 15–May 6, 2020) in the Republic of Serbia, as well as in the corresponding periods of 2018 and 2019, data on
the daily sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), ground-level ozone (O 3 ) and particulate matter (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ) concentrations were analyzed.
The total mortality data were analyzed to estimate the impact of the COVID‑19 related lockdown measures on the burden of health in a given
population, attributed to the outdoor air quality in the City of Novi Sad, using AirQ+ software.
Results
The average daily concentrations of PM 2.5 ,
NO 2 , PM 10 and SO 2 were reduced by 35%, 34%, 23% and 18%, respectively. In contrast, the average daily concentration of O 3 increased by 8%, even
if the primary precursors were reducing, thus representing a challenge for air quality management. In the City of Novi Sad, a reduction in the average
daily PM 2.5 concentration of 11.23 μg/m³ was significant, which resulted in a quantified number of avoided deaths.
Conclusions
Air pollution in
the City of Novi Sad had a chance to be improved due to some preventive measures related to the infectious disease (the COVID‑19 related lockdown),
which in turn was the mitigation measure to air pollution with positive public health effects. The confirmed positive effects of the improved
air quality on public health could also include raising collective resistance to mass non-communicable and infectious diseases such as COVID‑19 and
reducing economic costs. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2021;34(2):223–37 |
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| ISSN: | 1232-1087 1896-494X |