Air quality and COVID-19
How Democratizing Air Quality Data will Empower Citizens
By Kelly A. Stevens, Thomas A. Bryer, and Haofei Yu, University of Central Florida
Research is beginning to form multiple links between air pollution and COVID-19 that requires a reevaluation of how we monitor and share air quality data with the public. Preliminary research in the United States has found that patients in areas with higher levels of fine air particulates, known as PM2.5, are more likely to die from a COVID-19 infection than patients in areas with cleaner air quality. It has also been proposed in a recent study published in Nature that COVID-19 may have the potential to be transmitted through aerosols, which includes PM2.5, thus contributing to the spread of the disease. And, there is substantial evidence that COVID-19 causes respiratory illnesses that can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome, which in some cases requires a ventilator for survival, and may cause permanent lung damage.
Therefore, it is possible that COVID-19 will result in an increased number of individuals who are sensitive to poor air quality. Based on current trends in exposure to harmful air pollution and death rates from COIVD-19, black and minority ethnic groups in urban areas suffer more health inequalities, and could substantially benefit from better air quality information.
As has been the case with other elements of COVID-19 response, state and local agencies play an important role in protecting and prioritizing public health, especially when the federal response is slow and poorly coordinated. If the trends in relaxing federal air quality regulations continue, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, more localized networks better attuned to community needs will be needed to improve local air quality. Future steps are needed to: (1) equip individuals with better information about local air quality on poor air quality days, and (2) empower communities to modify activities and advocate air quality concerns in the short- and long-term to reduce exposure to air pollution.
Setting up a more responsive local air quality monitoring network will require low-cost air quality sensors and democratization of air quality data and resident empowerment. This requires some technical investment, as well as a transformation of local governance regimes in the field of environmental management.
Sensor Networks
Understanding the status of current air quality is crucial for air quality management. Currently, concentrations of important pollutants including PM2.5 are measured at stationary monitor networks using designated instruments that usually costs tens of thousands U.S. dollars. Due to the cost restrictions, the number of stations is limited, though pollution concentrations are known to vary drastically over short distances.
Low-cost air quality sensors are generally easy to use, require minimum maintenance, and can provide data in near real-time. As a relatively new and fast-evolving technology, the performances of low-cost air sensors vary considerably, but researchers are quickly developing methods for correcting sensor data using remote calibration to improve sensor reliability.
Environmental Governance Transformation
Using low-cost air quality sensors to provide more detailed measurements of local air quality, we recommend the creation of federally funded Air Quality Enhancement Districts (AQED) in high risk neighborhoods and communities throughout the United States. These AQEDs will be based on the democratization of air quality data and empowerment of residents to use the data. This will lead to more resident awareness of local pollution and vulnerability to disease.
Under this model, residents can further increase their knowledge of how pollution leads to higher risk for other health issues, with particular concern for respiratory ailments. According to research by Conrad and Hilchey on citizen science and environmental monitoring, education of residents can instigate citizen action once they are properly armed with data.
Democratizing data and increased resident awareness facilitate policy change driven by residents with local governments. This idea is discussed further in Bryer and Prysmakova-Rivera’s 2018 book, Poor Participation: Fighting the Wars on Poverty and Impoverished Citizenship.
At the heart of the framework is the idea of a policy window; something has happened, a focusing event, that draws attention to a problem to be fixed or opportunity to be leveraged. Coronavirus and the pandemic are focusing events, but so too can be prolonged heightened measures of air pollution. Once residents are equipped with the data, knowledge of how to use the data, and awareness of the health consequences of poor air quality, new solutions can be pushed through the window.
Empowerment of the citizenry is critical for the window to open and remain opened, particularly if poor air quality is localized and not likely to catch the attention of a wide dispersion of residents. Policy change that occurs to enhance air quality at any given period of time can save lives in the event of a significant health risk, such a coronavirus, in the future.
Instead of relying on scientific and regulatory experts to assess air quality at given places and times for recommendations communicated to a passive citizenry, the AQED model empowers citizens with access and information to interpret local air quality data and make more informed, local decisions.
With this new local environmental governance strategy in place, residents in a neighborhood are aware of a coming spike in pollutants associated with upcoming infrastructure improvements, and work with City officials to schedule these at times not important for the neighborhood. In AQEDs, residents in a neighborhood have access to local air quality data every day, and they learn, over time, that the changes in air quality that come with different weather conditions. They have more ability to plan events and activities for themselves, their families, and with their neighbors. Or, perhaps, residents detect prolonged periods of higher than normal air pollution; they have access to the data they need to share with each other and with government officials to determine the source and mitigate the pollution in the short- and long-term.
Using more highly distributed and accessible air quality sensors in an equitably designed AQED will empower citizens and communities to make better health-based decisions to mitigate further damage from COVID-19.
