Coronavirus impacts air quality in unexpected manner

The traffic of major US cities including California, Los Angeles, and San Francisco is no joke. The Bay Area counties have announced the home-stay orders amid the coronavirus pandemic. There is a completely different scenario all around after the implementation of the order. John Gioia, a member of the California Air Resource Board, said, “It’s about a 20% decrease in NOx.”

According to Gioia, NOx contributes to smog and its reduction is good for the air quality. Gioia added that a reduction of 20% had been noticed in the amount of fine particulate matter. Moreover, the amount of CO2 in the air reduced up to 25% after the implementation of the home-stay order. Gioia said, “It is a real fresh air that we are noticing.”

The rain has helped things a lot in improving the quality of the air. The improvement in air quality is great for all of us. Gioia said, “We have had a double benefit here of fewer people driving and weather patterns that clean the air.” The air quality of almost every part of the world has improved due to the lockdowns all across the world.

Lauri Myllyvirta said that the major cities of Europe have also seen improvement in the air quality. Myllyvirta said, “There is been an about 20 up to 50 percent reduction in nitrogen dioxide.” Myllyvirta has been working with the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. This organization is working on monitoring the impacts of the coronavirus on the air quality.

She said, “It was clear from the beginning that this would have dramatic impacts.” The organization has been monitoring the changes since the lockdowns occurred in China. Particle pollution is considered the most dangerous form of pollution by experts. The good thing is that particle pollution is way down after the lockdowns. But it is temporary until we move back to the routine. The experts said that there was a clear need to rethinking about the transportation infrastructure to keep the air quality long-lasting.