The impact of stay-at-home orders on air-quality and COVID-19 mortality rate in the United States

Samain Sabrin; Maryam Karimi; Rouzbeh Nazari; Md Golam Rabbani Fahad; Robert W Peters; Alley Uddin

doi:10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100946

The impact of stay-at-home orders on air-quality and COVID-19 mortality rate in the United States

Urban Clim. 2021 Sep:39:100946. doi: 10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100946. Epub 2021 Aug 6.

Authors

Samain Sabrin¹, Maryam Karimi^{1

2}, Rouzbeh Nazari^{1

2}, Md Golam Rabbani Fahad¹, Robert W Peters¹, Alley Uddin¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham, AL, USA.
² Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham, AL, USA.

Abstract

Since the beginning of the pandemic in the U.S., most jurisdictions issued mitigation strategies, such as restricting businesses and population movements. This provided an opportunity to measure any positive implications on air quality and COVID-19 mortality rate during a time of limited social interactions. Four broad categories of stay-at-home orders (for states following the order for at least 40 days, for states with less than 40 days, for states with the advisory order, and the states with no stay-at-home order) were created to analyze change in air quality and mortality rate. Ground-based monitoring data for particulate matter (PM_2.5, PM₁₀), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and carbon monoxide (CO) was collected during the initial country-wide lockdown period (15 March-15 June 2020). Data on confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths were also collected to analyze the effects of the four measures on the mortality trend. Findings show air quality improvement for the states staying under lockdown longer compared to states without a stay-at-home order. All stay-at-home order categories, except states without measures were observed a decrease in PM_2.5 and the core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) within the longer mitigation states had an improvement of their air quality index (AQI).

Keywords: Air quality; CBSAs; COVID-19 mortality; Criteria air-pollutants; Stay-at-home orders.