Long-term commuting times and air quality relationship to COVID-19 in Sao Paulo

Author(s)

Perez-Martinez, P. J. ; Dunck, J. A. ; de Assuncao, J., V ; Connerton, P. ; Slovic, A. D. ; Ribeiro, H. ; Miranda, R. M.

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT GEOGRAPHY; v. 101, p. 12-pg., 2022-04-20.

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic is an unprecedented global health crisis and the effects may be related to environmental and socio-economic factors. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, the first death occurred in March 2020 and since then the numbers have grown to 175 new deaths per day in April 2021, positioning the city as the epicenter of the number of cases and deaths in Brazil. Sao Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world with more than 12 million inhabitants, a fleet of about 8 million vehicles and frequent pollutant concentrations above recommended values. Social inequalities are evident in the municipality, similarly to other cities in the world. This paper focuses on transportation activities related to air pollution and associated with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases especially on people who developed comorbidities during their whole life. This study relates travel trip data to air quality analysis and expanded to COVID-19 disease. This work studied the relationship of deaths in Sao Paulo due to COVID-19 with demographic density, with family income, with the use of public transport and with atmospheric pollution for the period between March 17th, 2020 and April 29th, 2021. The main results showed that generally passenger kilometers traveled, commuting times and air quality related diseases increase with residential distance from the city center, and thus, with decreasing residential density. PM2.5 concentrations are positively correlated with COVID-19 deaths, regions with high urban densities have higher numbers of deaths and long-distance frequent trips can contribute to spread of the disease. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/10714-4 - Novel high-resolution spatial mapping of health and climate emissions from urban transport in São Paulo megacity (NOTS)
• Grantee: Pedro Jose Perez-Martinez
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants