COVID-19 outbreak, lockdown, and air quality: fresh insights from New York City

Khurram Shehzad; Faik Bilgili; Emrah Koçak; Liu Xiaoxing; Mahmood Ahmad

doi:10.1007/s11356-021-13556-8

COVID-19 outbreak, lockdown, and air quality: fresh insights from New York City

Khurram Shehzad
, Faik Bilgili
, Emrah Koçak^*
, Liu Xiaoxing
, Mahmood Ahmad

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected all aspects of life and poses a severe threat to human health and economic development. New York City administration enacted a strict isolation decision at the end of March 2020 to tackle the COVID-19, creating a unique opportunity to assess air quality. Therefore, we investigated the impact of the lockdown on air quality in New York City. We evaluated the air pollutants concentration, i.e., PM_2.5, CO, NO₂, SO₂, and O_3, during the lockdown and compared them with pre-COVID-19. We explored the first phase of lockdown through a spatial approach, then formulated the air quality index (AQI) of each pollutant before and during the lockdown. Our findings revealed that (1) there was a significant decline in the concentration level of PM_2.5 from 10.3 to 4.0 μg/m³ during phase one of lockdown. (2) NO₂ concentrations have been decreased by up to 52% in 1st phase of lockdown. (3) O₃ concentration has been increased by 44.4%. (4) Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island County encountered 18.75%, 55.62%, 47.14%, and 47% diminution in AQI due to lockdown as compared to 2018, respectively. Our key findings can provide critical environmental implications for policymakers, researchers, academics, and the US government.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	41149-41161
Number of pages	13
Journal	Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Volume	28
Issue number	30
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13556-8
State	Published - Aug 2021
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Keywords

Air pollution
CO
COVID-19
Environmental quality
Lockdown
NO
PM concentration

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Chemistry
Pollution
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

Access to Document

10.1007/s11356-021-13556-8

Cite this

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abstract = "The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected all aspects of life and poses a severe threat to human health and economic development. New York City administration enacted a strict isolation decision at the end of March 2020 to tackle the COVID-19, creating a unique opportunity to assess air quality. Therefore, we investigated the impact of the lockdown on air quality in New York City. We evaluated the air pollutants concentration, i.e., PM2.5, CO, NO2, SO2, and O3, during the lockdown and compared them with pre-COVID-19. We explored the first phase of lockdown through a spatial approach, then formulated the air quality index (AQI) of each pollutant before and during the lockdown. Our findings revealed that (1) there was a significant decline in the concentration level of PM2.5 from 10.3 to 4.0 μg/m3 during phase one of lockdown. (2) NO2 concentrations have been decreased by up to 52\% in 1st phase of lockdown. (3) O3 concentration has been increased by 44.4\%. (4) Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island County encountered 18.75\%, 55.62\%, 47.14\%, and 47\% diminution in AQI due to lockdown as compared to 2018, respectively. Our key findings can provide critical environmental implications for policymakers, researchers, academics, and the US government.",

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COVID-19 outbreak, lockdown, and air quality: fresh insights from New York City

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Cite this