Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Mobility Restrictions and Air Quality under COVID-19 Pandemic in São Paulo, Brazil

Version 1 : Received: 29 April 2020 / Approved: 30 April 2020 / Online: 30 April 2020 (03:11:40 CEST)

How to cite: Freitas, E.D.; Ibarra-Espinosa, S.A.; Gavidia-Calderón, M.E.; Rehbein, A.; Abou Rafee, S.A.; Martins, J.A.; Martins, L.D.; Santos, U.P.; Ning, M.F.; Andrade, M.F.; Trindade, R.I.F. Mobility Restrictions and Air Quality under COVID-19 Pandemic in São Paulo, Brazil. Preprints 2020, 2020040515. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202004.0515.v1 Freitas, E.D.; Ibarra-Espinosa, S.A.; Gavidia-Calderón, M.E.; Rehbein, A.; Abou Rafee, S.A.; Martins, J.A.; Martins, L.D.; Santos, U.P.; Ning, M.F.; Andrade, M.F.; Trindade, R.I.F. Mobility Restrictions and Air Quality under COVID-19 Pandemic in São Paulo, Brazil. Preprints 2020, 2020040515. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202004.0515.v1

Abstract

Social distancing policies put in place during COVID-19 epidemic in addition to helping to limit the spread of the disease also contributed to improving urban air quality. Here we show a decrease in air pollutant concentration as a consequence of mobility reduction in São Paulo during the containment measure which began on 22nd March 2020. When comparing to foregoing weeks to equivalent periods of 2019, the concentration of most air pollutants sharply decreased in the first days of mobility restriction, to then increase again after government officials downplayed the threat of the disease. This trend is also followed by a decrease in hospital admissions by SARS-influenza. Therefore, despite the great economic and social unrest caused by the pandemic, this unique situation shows that large-scale mobility reduction policy had a significant impact on air quality, benefiting, directly and indirectly, the public health system.

Keywords

air pollution; MASP; human health; quarantine

Subject

Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science

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