Road traffic and air pollution: Evidence from a nationwide traffic control during coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak.

ABSTRACT: Existing estimations of air pollution from automobile sources are based on either experiments or small-scale governmental interventions. China's nationwide traffic control during the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak provided us a unique opportunity to assess the direct dose-effect relationship between vehicle density and air pollution. We found that, during the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak, the nationwide reduced air pollution (except for O₃) could be largely explained by traffic control measures. During the traffic control period, every doubling of vehicle density was associated with a decrease of 4.2 (2.0, 6.4) μg/m³ in PM_2.5, 5.5 (2.9, 8.1) μg/m³ in PM₁₀, 1.5 (0.9, 2.0) μg/m³ in NO₂, and 0.04 (0.02, 0.07)

SUBMITTER: Jia C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9671408 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature