Most major Canadian cities saw drastic improvements in air quality over the last two months as COVID-19 kept people at home instead of on the roads.
Experts say cleaner air, even just for a few weeks, can reduce illnesses like asthma attacks and heart attacks, which have been shown to spike when air pollution is at its worst, and which are also linked with higher risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19.
McLinden said nitrogen dioxide is one of the best measures for a day-to-day comparison because it tends to dissipate much faster than carbon monoxide, so its presence is a better indicator of changes in a short period of time. In April, international air quality technology company IQAir found significant drops in 10 world cities of fine particles, known as PM2.5 . The study showed PM2.5 down 60 per cent in Delhi, compared to the same three-week period in 2019, and drops of 54 per cent in Seoul, 31 per cent in Los Angeles and 25 per cent in New York City.
"A couple of months will do us well because we're avoiding air-pollution-related deaths and illness, especially at a time when we are really concerned about the respiratory system," Diamond said.
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