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Impacts of COVID-19 on Ambient Concentrations of PM2.5 in Ottawa and Nationally [Funder: Carleton University COVID-19 Rapid Research Response Grants]

Grant number: unknown

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Key facts

  • Disease

    COVID-19

  • Funder

    Other Funders (Canada)

  • Principal Investigator

    Paul Villeneuve

  • Research Location

    Canada

  • Lead Research Institution

    Carleton University

  • Research Priority Alignment

    N/A

  • Research Category

    Secondary impacts of disease, response & control measures

  • Research Subcategory

    Other secondary impacts

  • Special Interest Tags

    N/A

  • Study Type

    Non-Clinical

  • Clinical Trial Details

    N/A

  • Broad Policy Alignment

    Pending

  • Age Group

    Not Applicable

  • Vulnerable Population

    Not applicable

  • Occupations of Interest

    Not applicable

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted human health on a global scale and necessitated major changes in human behaviour. The implementation of physical distancing practices in Canada, and elsewhere, has resulted in a greater number of individuals working from home, and substantial reductions in use of industrial processes, and motor vehicles. This, in turn, has impacted concentrations of outdoor air pollution. Decreases in air pollution levels since the pandemic began have been reported in several countries; however, Canadian analyses have been limited. Specifically, there has been no comprehensive effort to describe changes in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution. PM2.5 is the most widely studied pollutant in terms of human health and has been estimated to cause 10,000 deaths annually in Canada. This project will extract daily data for PM2.5 in 2020 from a comprehensive series of monitoring stations and satellite imaging data to quantify how COVID-19 has impacted PM2.5 concentrations nationally and in select cities.