COVID-19 transport restrictions in Ireland: impact on air quality and respiratory hospital admissions

Quintyne, Keith Ian; Kelly, Cynthia W.; Sheridan, Aishling; Kenny, Paddy; O'Dwyer, Marilla

doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2021.07.008

Cited by 13 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In addition to our previous study suggesting a substantial, short-term reduction in asthma exacerbations at the beginning of the pandemic, 10 several studies have reported similar findings, albeit over a much shorter timeframe (see appendix pp 12-14 for complete list). 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 11 Most previous studies covered a small geographic area, often from a single hospital with a relatively small sample size. However, there were notable exceptions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have suggested several factors to explain the substantial reduction in asthma exacerbations during the pandemic. These included a change in care-seeking behaviour with patients more likely to avoid contacting visiting healthcare facilities due to fear of contracting COVID-19, 26 disruption to healthcare services, 23 reduction in air pollution, 11 a reduced circulation of other respiratory viruses due to reduced mobility during the pandemic, improved hygiene and protection due to measures such as frequent hand-washing, sanitising, and use of face-masks, and improved self-management including high medication adherence rate. 2 , 3 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 10 , 24 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several countries reported a substantial reduction in asthma exacerbations during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 These early studies, however, focused on the short-term impact of emergency restrictions imposed by several countries after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic in March 2020 12 , 13 ; little is however known about longer-term impact.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on asthma exacerbations: Retrospective cohort study of over 500,000 patients in a national English primary care database

Shah

Quint

Sheikh

2022

The Lancet Regional Health - Europe

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on asthma exacerbations: Retrospective cohort study of over 500,000 patients in a national English primary care database

Shah

Quint

Sheikh

2022

The Lancet Regional Health - Europe

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“…The first stage of lockdown allowed people to travel within 2 km from their home for exercise. On the 18 th of May, these restrictions began to be eased in a phased manner allowing people to travel within 5 km from their home ( Caulfield et al, 2021 ; Quintyne et al, 2021 ). However, it was instructed that all non-essential travel be kept to a minimum.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Restrictions were further strengthened in October 2020 as Ireland experienced heavy increase in infections leading to a second nation-wide lockdown ( Quintyne et al, 2021 ). The restrictions were again relaxed in December 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the impact of mobility on the incidence of COVID-19 in Dublin City

Manzira

Charly

Caulfield

2022

Sustainable Cities and Society

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Covid-19 has had a major impact on the transport systems around the world. Several transport-related policies were implemented in short period of time to contain the spread of the pandemic. These policies had a major influence on travel behaviour and people's perception towards the safety of different modes of transport, especially public transport, thus affecting several sustainable mobility initiatives. To build a resilient and sustainable transport system and to rebuild trust in public transport, it is important to understand the role of mobility in the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. The present study investigates the relationship between mobility and reported Covid-19 infections using data from Dublin city. Different modes of transport including traffic volume, bus passengers, pedestrians and cyclists were considered in the study during a forty week period. Multiple scenarios involving two-week lag and three-week lag of mobility data and Covid-19 infections were considered in building statistical models. Results showed that, 36.2 % of the reported Covid-19 infections after a two-week lag and 33% of the infections after a three-week lag can be explained using the level of mobility alone. The study further discusses the policy implications and strategies for ensuring a resilient and sustainable transport system.

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Evaluating background and local contributions and identifying traffic-related pollutant hotspots: insights from Google Air View mobile monitoring in Dublin, Ireland

Chen,

Mölter,

Gómez-Barrón

et al. 2024

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Mobile monitoring provides high-resolution observation on temporal and spatial scales compared to traditional fixed-site measurement. This study demonstrates the use of high spatio-temporal resolution of air pollution data collected by Google Air View vehicles to identify hotspots and assess compliance with WHO Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) in Dublin City. The mobile monitoring was conducted during weekdays, typically from 7:00 to 19:00, between 6 May 2021 and 6 May 2022. One-second data were aggregated to 377,113 8 s road segments, and 8 s rolling medians were aggregated to hourly and daily levels for further analysis. We assessed the temporal variability of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations at hyperlocal levels. The average daytime median concentrations of NO2 (28.4 ± 15.7 µg/m3) and PM2.5 (7.6 ± 4.7 µg/m3) exceeded the WHO twenty-four hours (24 h) Air Quality Guidelines in 49.4% and 9% of the 1-year sampling time, respectively. For the diurnal variation of measured pollutants, the morning (8:00) and early evening (18:00) showed higher concentrations for NO2 and PM2.5, mostly happening in the winter season, while the afternoon is the least polluted time except for O3. The low-percentile approach along with 1-h and daytime minima method allowed for decomposing pollutant time series into the background and local contributions. Background contributions for NO2 and PM2.5 changed along with the seasonal variation. Local contributions for PM2.5 changed slightly; however, NO2 showed significant diurnal and seasonal variability related to traffic emissions. Short-lived event enhancement (1 min to 1 h) accounts for 36.0–40.6% and 20.8–42.2% of the total concentration for NO2 and PM2.5. The highly polluted days account for 56.3% of total NO2, highlighting local traffic is the dominant contributor to short-term NO2 concentrations. The longer-lived events (> 8 h) enhancement accounts for 25% of the monitored concentrations. Additionally, conducting optimal hotspot analysis enables mapping the spatial distribution of “hot” spots for PM2.5 and NO2 on highly polluted days. Overall, this investigation suggests both background and local emissions contribute to PM2.5 and NO2 pollution in urban areas and emphasize the urgent need for mitigating NO2 from traffic pollution in Dublin.

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COVID-19 transport restrictions in Ireland: impact on air quality and respiratory hospital admissions

Cited by 13 publications

References 15 publications

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on asthma exacerbations: Retrospective cohort study of over 500,000 patients in a national English primary care database

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on asthma exacerbations: Retrospective cohort study of over 500,000 patients in a national English primary care database

Assessing the impact of mobility on the incidence of COVID-19 in Dublin City

Evaluating background and local contributions and identifying traffic-related pollutant hotspots: insights from Google Air View mobile monitoring in Dublin, Ireland

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