Abstract
Italy has been one of the first nations in the world to be heavily affected by COVID-19. A wide range of containment measures has been adopted from February to December 2020 to mitigate the pandemic. In this regard, the present research sets out to evaluate two aspects: (i) the impact of lockdowns on the concentrations of particulate matter (PM) 10 and 2.5 in the Lombardy region, and (ii) how anti-COVID-19 restrictions influenced Italian citizens' consumption habits. To do this, the average daily concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 during 2020 in all the provinces of Lombardy were compared with those of the previous years through Welch's t-test. The same procedure was adopted to estimate the change in Google relative search volumes of home delivery services and smart working on a national scale. Two mean values were considered statistically confident when t < 1.5, suspiciously non-confident when 1.5 ≤ t < 1.9, and non-confident when t ≥ 1.9. Seasonalities and trends were assessed both graphically and with Augmented Dickey-Fuller, Phillips-Perron, and Kwiatkowski-Phillips-Schmidt-Shin tests. Finally, Pearson and Spearman correlations between changes in citizens' behavior and specific key events related to COVID-19 have been dealt with. The P-value threshold was indicatively set at 0.05. Microsoft Excel 2020 and Google Sheets were used as data analysis software. This paper showed: (i) the limited or insufficient effectiveness of lockdowns in reducing PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in Lombardy, and (ii) a significant change in the consumption habits of Italian citizens, thus leading to both positive and negative results in terms of sustainability. Therefore, it is high time that both Italian and international environmental protection authorities thoroughly investigated the role of non-mobility-related sources of particulate emissions to impose effective rules on home delivery services. Moreover, further research is required for the understanding of anthropogenic, environmental, and atmospheric phenomena that influence the concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5.
Highlights
BackgroundIn late December 2019, a novel coronavirus began to circulate in the Chinese city of Wuhan, causing numerous deaths and raising the alert of local and international health authorities (Wang et al, 2020a; Zhu et al, 2020)
In certain cases winds can lead to an increase in PM10 due to the transport of desert material or other debris, generally their decrease implies an increase in the concentrations of this particulate
The most important finding of this paper is that even a total lockdown strategy would be insufficient to reduce the concentrations of PM10 and especially PM2.5 in a sustainable way
Summary
In late December 2019, a novel coronavirus began to circulate in the Chinese city of Wuhan, causing numerous deaths and raising the alert of local and international health authorities (Wang et al, 2020a; Zhu et al, 2020). This new virus was cataloged by the World Health Organization with the names of 2019-nCoV (2019 novel Coronavirus) and SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2), and its related disease—transmitted from human-to-human—was called COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) (Li et al, 2020). The second wave of COVID-19 made the Italian Government opt for another national lockdown on November 4, 2020 [Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana (Italian Republic), 2020]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
