AUTHOR=De Maria Luigi , Caputi Antonio , Tafuri Silvio , Cannone Enza Sabrina Silvana , Sponselli Stefania , Delfino Maria Celeste , Pipoli Antonella , Bruno Vito , Angiuli Lorenzo , Mucci Nicola , Ledda Caterina , Vimercati Luigi 

TITLE=Health, Transport and the Environment: The Impacts of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Air Pollution

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.637540

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2021.637540

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Lockdown measures were initiated in Italy on March 9th after the start of the SARS-CoV-2 16 epidemic to flatten the epidemic curve. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of 17 restrictive measures in the Apulia Region, southern Italy, on air quality from March-April 2020. We 18 applied a dual-track approach. We assessed citizen mobility and vehicle traffic with mobility 19 network data and information obtained from satellite tracking, and we evaluated and compared 20 pollutant concentration data as measured by monitoring stations maintained by the Regional 21 Agency for Environmental Protection and Prevention of Apulia (ARPA). The results showed a 22 decrease in the weekly mean NO2 concentration recorded by urban traffic stations during the 23 lockdown period. In particular, in the city of Bari, the average NO2 concentration decreased from 24 62.2 μg/m3 in March 2019 to 48.2 μg/m3 in March 2020. Regarding PM10 levels, the average 25 concentrations at the individual traffic stations showed no particular variation compared to those in 26 the same months of the previous year, except for Bari-Caldarola Station in March 2019/2020 (p-27 value<0.001) and in April 2019/2020 (p-value=0.04). In particular the average in March 2019 was 28 approximately 26.9 μg/m3, while that in March 2020 was approximately 22.9 μg/m3. For April, the 29 average concentration of PM10 in 2019 was 27.9 μg/m3, while in 2020, the average was 30 approximately 22.4 μg/m3. This can be explained by the fact that PM10 levels are influenced by 31 multiple variables such as weather and climate conditions and desert dust advections.