Analysis on Air Pollution in South America during the Propagation of COVID-19

• Walter José Martínez Burgos Programa de Ingeniería de Bioprocesos y Biotecnología, Universidade Federal do Paraná-Campus Centro politécnico, Avenida Coronel Francisco H. dos Santos, 100 - Jardim das Américas- Curitiba-Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4377-6530
• Josilene Lima Serra Instituto Federal de Ciencia, Tecnología y Educación de Maranhão, Campus São Luiz-Maracanã, Curso de Tecnología de Alimentos https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4560-9026
• Alexander Elías Parody Muñoz Programa de Ingeniería Industrial, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Libre de Colombia, Seccional Barranquilla – Sede Centro Carrera 46 No. 48-170 Barranquilla – Colombia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0155-266X
• Leonardo Wedderhoff Herrmann Programa de Ingeniería de Bioprocesos y Biotecnología, Universidade Federal do Paraná-Campus Centro politécnico, Avenida Coronel Francisco H. dos Santos, 100 - Jardim das Américas- Curitiba-Brasil. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2301-3942
• Euler Gallego Cartagena Programa de Administración Ambiental e Ingeniería Ambiental, Departamento de Civil y Ambiental, Universidad de la Costa, Calle 58 #55-66, 080002, Barranquilla-Colombia http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3316-5007
• Carlos Paternina-Arboleda Departamento de Sistemas de Información Gerencial, Facultad de Negocios Fowler, Universidad Estatal de San Diego. 5500 Campanile Drive. San Diego, 92182, CA, US. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8860-3898
• Vanete Thomas Soccol Programa de Ingeniería de Bioprocesos y Biotecnología, Universidade Federal do Paraná-Campus Centro politécnico, Avenida Coronel Francisco H. dos Santos, 100 - Jardim das Américas- Curitiba-Brasil. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9301-541X
• Vera Judith Santiago Martínez Programa de Ingeniería Industrial, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Libre de Colombia, Seccional Barranquilla – Sede Centro Carrera 46 No. 48-170 Barranquilla – Colombia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3919-3917
• Carlos Ricardo Soccol Programa de Ingeniería de Bioprocesos y Biotecnología, Universidade Federal do Paraná-Campus Centro politécnico, Avenida Coronel Francisco H. dos Santos, 100 - Jardim das Américas- Curitiba-Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7630-6864

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22209/rt.v46a12

Keywords: air pollution, Coronavirus, environment, public health

Abstract

The global pandemic due to the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus has caused significant impact on various sectors of society, e.g., health, science, and economy, with a remarkable change in environmental aspects. The present study focused on an analysis of the spread of COVID-19 in South America, highlighting the impacts of lockdown policies on the air quality in the main cities of ten countries during the pandemics, furthermore, through simple regression statistical models, the behavior of accumulated daily cases of COVID-19 in 13 countries was characterized. The lockdown strategy was one of the first measures adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to control the spread of the coronavirus, significantly reducing traffic and industrial activities. This measure has surprisingly improved the air quality in four of the 13 South American cities studied, e.g., Guarulhos (Brazil), Santiago de Chile (Chile), Bogota (Colombia), and Lima (Peru), with reductions in PM_2.5, PM₁₀, and ozone (O₃). The propagation behavior of COVID-19 in South America and the environmental impact analyses provided in this paper demonstrate the intense effect of commercial and industrial activities and can be used to subsidize future reductions in pollution and disease contamination.

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