Abstract
Objectives: Policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to behaviour changes in the UK’s population, including a sudden shift towards working from home. These changes may have affected overall exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), an air pollutant and source of health harm. We report the results of a simulation model of a representative sample of the UK’s population, including workers and non-workers, to estimate PM2.5 exposure before and during the pandemic. Methods: PM2.5 exposure was simulated in April and August 2017–2020 for 10,000 individuals across the UK drawn from the 2011 nationwide census. These data were combined with data from the UK’s ambient PM2.5 monitoring network, time use data and data on relevant personal behaviour before and during the first stage of the pandemic (such as changes in smoking and cooking). Results: The simulated exposures were significantly different between each year. Changes in ambient PM2.5 resulted in regional and temporal variation. People living in homes where someone smoked experienced higher exposure than those in smoke-free homes, with an increase of 4 µg/m3 in PM2.5 exposure in 2020. Conclusions: Changes in PM2.5 exposure were minimal for most individuals despite the simulated increases in cooking activity. Those living in smoking homes (estimated to be around 11% of the UK population) experienced increased exposure to PM2.5 during COVID lockdown measures and this is likely to have increased mortality and morbidity among this group. Government policy should address the risk of increased exposure to second-hand smoke in the event of future COVID-19-related restrictions.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic led to major changes in public policy across the world.In the UK and many other countries, non-pharmaceutical interventions to control the COVID-19 pandemic included ‘lockdown’ periods when travel outside of the home for non-essential reasons was forbidden by law
This study considers changes in personal exposure to one type of air pollution: fine particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5 ), which is linked to cardiovascular and pulmonary illness, including heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [6] and stroke [7]
This paper presents a simulation modelling approach to assess changes in personal exposure to PM2.5 across the UK population during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the three previous years in order to provide data useful to assessing risks to human health
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic led to major changes in public policy across the world.In the UK and many other countries, non-pharmaceutical interventions to control the COVID-19 pandemic included ‘lockdown’ periods when travel outside of the home for non-essential reasons was forbidden by law. The UK population spent more time at home during these periods than they would otherwise have done The impact of this population level ‘behaviour change’ has been explored in terms of changes to ambient outdoor air quality, where changes varied by pollutant but tended to reflect lower vehicle traffic densities [1,2]. Personal exposure to air pollutants is much more complex [3] and depends on the amount of time the individual spends in various micro-environments (e.g., outdoors, at work, at home, within a car or public transport), the potential presence of emission sources within these environments (e.g., vehicle exhausts, cigarette smoke or cooking fumes) and the relative toxicity of PM from those different sources [4,5]. This study considers changes in personal exposure to one type of air pollution: fine particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5 ), which is linked to cardiovascular and pulmonary illness, including heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [6] and stroke [7]
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