Health and economic burden avoided due to air pollution reduction during the COVID-19 Lockdown: Portugal case study

Abstract

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, strict mobility measures and lockdown periods were implemented globally to curtail the spread of the virus. Thus, this study aimed to estimate the health and economic burden avoided due to the air pollution reduction during the COVID-19 lockdown in Portugal. PM10, NO2, and O3 hourly concentrations were obtained from Portugal's 68 air quality monitoring stations for the 2020 lockdown and historical (2015–2019) periods to estimate the avoided premature deaths, avoided asthma-related morbidity and avoided hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases, and related avoided costs. Overall, a higher number of avoided premature deaths was estimated, especially related to short-term NO2 exposure (less 30 %). Moreover, the highest avoided morbidity effects were estimated for the short-term NO2 exposure on hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases (57 % of avoided admissions). Economically, €48.3 million were avoided from the averted NO2-related premature deaths, and up to 0.1 % of the total health expenditure was saved due to the avoided new asthma cases in children aged 5–19 years old. In sum, the air pollution reduction during the 2020 lockdown relative to the historical period led to human health gains and related avoided economic costs.