Assessment and Policy Recommendations of School Ambient Air Quality During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Abu Dhabi, UAE

Abstract

The quality of ambient air has improved in many cities as a result of lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study utilized hourly averages of five ambient (outdoors) air quality indicators (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, and O3) to assess the impact on air quality of the reduced mobility, during the first 8 months of 2020, at two schools in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The first school is located in a busy downtown area with significant commercial activities and traffic, whereas the second is in a suburban, purely residential area of low population density. The 2021 WHO global air quality guideline levels (AQG) and the lowest level target, that of interim target 1 of the WHO Global Update 2005 guidelines, were used to evaluate our data. Workplace and mobility restriction measures were taken very early on in UAE and included the closure of educational institutions on March 8, 2020, the subsequent mandate on distance education, the hold on public transportation until the third week of April 2020, restrictions in workplace capacity, etc. Despite these measures, there appeared very little improvement in the five studied indicators at the two schools, both in terms of the WHO 2021 and the interim target 1 guidelines. The analysis of the Air Quality Index (AQI) during the first 31 days of 2022 at these two schools confirmed that the poor quality of air is more or less a permanent situation at these two school zones, putting at risk the health of the sensitive group of students.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, Outdoors air pollution, School zones