Journal of Environmental Health Sciences (한국환경보건학회지)

Korean Society of Environmental Health (한국환경보건학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Evaluation of Population Exposures to PM2.5 before and after the Outbreak of COVID-19

서울시 구로구에서 COVID-19 발생 전·후 초미세먼지(PM2.5) 농도 변화에 따른 인구집단 노출평가

  • Kim, Dongjun (Department of Occupational Health, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Min, Gihong (Department of Occupational Health, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Choe, Yongtae (Department of Occupational Health, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Shin, Junshup (Department of Occupational Health, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Woo, Jaemin (Department of Occupational Health, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Kim, Dongjun (Department of Occupational Health, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Shin, Junghyun (Department of Occupational Health, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Jo, Mansu (Department of Occupational Health, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Sung, Kyeonghwa (Center of Environmental Health Monitoring, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Choi, Yoon-hyeong (Department of Preventive Medicine, Gachon University College of Medicine) ;
  • Lee, Chaekwan (Institute of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Medical School, Inje University) ;
  • Choi, Kilyoong (Department of Environmental Energy Engineering, Anyang University) ;
  • Yang, Wonho (Department of Occupational Health, Daegu Catholic University)
  • 김동준 (대구가톨릭대학교 산업보건학과) ;
  • 민기홍 (대구가톨릭대학교 산업보건학과) ;
  • 최영태 (대구가톨릭대학교 산업보건학과) ;
  • 신준섭 (대구가톨릭대학교 산업보건학과) ;
  • 우재민 (대구가톨릭대학교 산업보건학과) ;
  • 김동준 (대구가톨릭대학교 산업보건학과) ;
  • 신정현 (대구가톨릭대학교 산업보건학과) ;
  • 조만수 (대구가톨릭대학교 산업보건학과) ;
  • 성경화 (대구가톨릭대학교 환경보건모니터링센터) ;
  • 최윤형 (가천대학교 의과대학 예방의학교실) ;
  • 이채관 (인제대학교 의과대학 환경.산업의학연구소) ;
  • 최길용 (안양대학교 환경에너지공학과) ;
  • 양원호 (대구가톨릭대학교 산업보건학과)
  • Received : 2021.10.28
  • Accepted : 2021.11.25
  • Published : 2021.12.31
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused changes in human activity, and these changes may possibly increase or decrease exposure to fine dust (PM2.5). Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the exposure to PM2.5 in relation to the outbreak of COVID-19. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate the exposure to PM2.5 concentrations by the variation of dynamic populations before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. Methods: This study evaluated exposure to PM2.5 concentrations by changes in the dynamic population distribution in Guro-gu, Seoul, before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 between Jan and Feb, 2020. Gurogu was divided into 2,204 scale standard grids of 100 m×100 m. Hourly PM2.5 concentrations were modeled by the inverse distance weight method using 24 sensor-based air monitoring instruments. Hourly dynamic population distribution was evaluated according to gender and age using mobile phone network data and time-activity patterns. Results: Compared to before, the population exposure to PM2.5 decreased after the outbreak of COVID-19. The concentration of PM2.5 after the outbreak of COVID-19 decreased by about 41% on average. The variation of dynamic population before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 decreased by about 18% on average. Conclusions: Comparing before and after the outbreak of COVID-19, the population exposures to PM2.5 decreased by about 40%. This can be explained to suggest that changes in people's activity patterns due to the outbreak of COVID-19 resulted in a decrease in exposure to PM2.5.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

본 연구는 환경부의 재원으로 한국환경산업기술원의 생활공감환경보건기술사업의 지원을 받아 수행되었습니다(과제번호: 2018001350001).

References

  1. Jang A. Impact of particulate matter on health. J Korean Med Assoc. 2014; 57(9): 763-768. https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2014.57.9.763
  2. Choe J, Lee Y. A study on the impact of PM2.5 emissions on respiratory diseases. J Environ Policy Adm. 2015; 23(4): 155-172.
  3. International Agency for Research on Cancer. Outdoor Air Pollution Volume 109. Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2016.
  4. World Health Organization. Health Effects of Particulate Matter. Copenhagen: World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe; 2013.
  5. Yoo B. The influence of air pollution level on resident's evaluation and cognition for indoor environment in Ulsan. J Korean Hous Assoc. 2010; 21(3): 87-94. https://doi.org/10.6107/JKHA.2010.21.3.087
  6. Kim J, Choe P, Oh Y, Oh K, Kim J, Park S, et al. The first case of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia imported into Korea from Wuhan, China: implication for infection prevention and control measures. J Korean Med Sci. 2020; 35(5): e61. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e61
  7. Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. In the Quarantine Stage, the Crisis Alert for Infectious Diseases was Raised to the Yellow Stage to Confirm Patients of COVID-19 from Overseas. Available: https://www.kdca.go.kr/board/board.es?mid=a20501010000&bid=0015&act=view&list_no=365794 [accessed 26 October 2021].
  8. Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Infectious Disease Alert was Raised Level Yellow Stage to Red Stage. Available: https://www.kdca.go.kr/board/board.es?mid=a20501010000&bid=0015&act=view&list_no=365889 [accessed 26 October 2021].
  9. Choi JY. COVID-19 in South Korea. Postgrad Med J. 2020; 96: 399-402. https://doi.org/10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-137738
  10. Lokhandwala S, Gautam P. Indirect impact of COVID-19 on environment: a brief study in Indian context. Environ Res. 2020; 188: 109807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109807
  11. Kwak K, Han B, Park K, Moon S, Jin H, Park S, et al. Inter- and intra-city comparisons of PM2.5 concentration changes under COVID-19 social distancing in seven major cities of South Korea. Air Qual Atmos Health. 2021; 14: 1155-1168. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-021-01006-w
  12. Pope C, Burnett R, Thun M, Calle E, Krewski D, Ito K, et al. Lung cancer, cardiopulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution. JAMA. 2002; 287(9): 1132-1141. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.287.9.1132
  13. Guro District Office. Guro-gu Population in the 4th Quarter of 2019. Available: https://www.guro.go.kr/www/selectBbsNttView.do?bbsNo=671&nttNo=43332&&pageUnit=10&key=2146&pageIndex=1 [accessed 16 November 2021].
  14. Frigge M, Hoaglin D, Iglewicz B. Some implementations of the boxplot. Am Stat. 1989; 43(1): 50-54. https://doi.org/10.2307/2685173
  15. Park J, Jo W, Cho M, Lee J, Lee H, Seo S, et al. Spatial and temporal exposure assessment to PM2.5 in a community using sensor-based air monitoring instruments and dynamic population distributions. Atmosphere. 2020; 11(12): 1284. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11121284
  16. Park J, Kim E, Choe Y, Ryu H, Kim S, Woo B, et al. Indoor to outdoor ratio of fine particulate matter by time of the day in house according to time-activity patterns. J Environ Health Sci. 2020; 46(5): 504-512. https://doi.org/10.5668/JEHS.2020.46.5.504
  17. Statistics Korea. Results of Time Activity Survey in 2019. Available: http://kostat.go.kr/portal/korea/kor_nw/1/6/4/index.board [accessed 18 October 2021].
  18. Kim G, Han G, Cho C. Improvement case study about pCell network based positioning solution. Telecommun Rev. 2008; 18(2): 239-247.
  19. Kim S, Kim T, Kim C. Estimating the method of the number of visitors of water-friendly park using GPS location information. Ecol Resil Infrastruct. 2020; 7(3): 171-180.
  20. Williams R, Kaufman A, Hanley T, Rice J, Garvey S. Evaluation of Field-deployed Low Cost PM Sensors. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2014.
  21. Cho S, Chartier R, Mortimer K, Dherani M, Tafatatha T. A personal particulate matter exposure monitor to support household air pollution exposure and health studies. Paper presented at: 2016 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC); 2016 Oct 13-16; Seattle, USA. Piscataway: IEEE, 2016. p. 817-818.
  22. Guak S, Lee K. Different relationships between personal exposure and ambient concentration by particle size. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2018; 25(17): 16945-16950. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1889-2
  23. Park J, Ryu H, Kim E, Choe Y, Heo J, Lee J, et al. Assessment of PM2.5 population exposure of a community using sensor-based air monitoring instruments and similar time-activity groups. Atmos Pollut Res. 2020; 11(11): 1971-1981. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2020.08.010
  24. Fu X, Zhu X, Jiang Y, Zhang J, Wang T, Jia C. Centralized outdoor measurements of fine particulate matter as a surrogate of personal exposure for homogeneous populations. Atmos Environ. 2019; 204: 110-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.02.021
  25. Tastan M, Gokozan H. Real-time monitoring of indoor air quality with internet of things-based e-nose. Appl Sci. 2019; 9(16): 3435. https://doi.org/10.3390/app9163435
  26. Chauhan A, Singh R. Decline in PM2.5 concentrations over major cities around the world associated with COVID-19. Environ Res. 2020; 187: 109634. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109634
  27. Castell N, Dauge F, Schneider P, Vogt M, Lerner U, Fishbain B, et al. Can commercial low-cost sensor platforms contribute to air quality monitoring and exposure estimates? Environ Int. 2017; 99: 293-302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2016.12.007
  28. Kumar P, Morawska L, Martani C, Biskos G, Neophytou M, Di Sabatino S, et al. The rise of low-cost sensing for managing air pollution in cities. Environ Int. 2015; 75: 199-205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2014.11.019
  29. Lin Y, Chi W, Lin Y. The improvement of spatial-temporal resolution of PM2.5 estimation based on micro-air quality sensors by using data fusion technique. Environ Int. 2020; 134: 105305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105305
  30. Madakam S, Ramaswamy R, Tripathi S. Internet of Things (IoT): a literature review. J Comput Commun. 2015; 3: 164-173. https://doi.org/10.4236/jcc.2015.35021
  31. Moschandreas D, Watson J, D'Abreton P, Scire J, Zhu T, Klein W, et al. Chapter three: methodology of exposure modeling. Chemosphere. 2002; 49(9): 923-946. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0045-6535(02)00237-0
  32. Ju M, Oh J, Choi Y. Changes in air pollution levels after COVID-19 outbreak in Korea. Sci Total Environ. 2021; 750: 141521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141521