Investigation of indoor and outdoor air quality in a university campus during COVID-19 lock down period

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109176Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Various gaseous air pollutants, (PM2.5), total bacteria, and total fungi were measured.

  • Each indoor micro-environment is uniquely characterized.

  • I/O ratios for SO2, NO2, O3, bacteria, and fungi were <1 in most indoor environments.

  • The total fungi count was higher than the total bacteria count in all departments.

  • Improvement in indoor air quality was seen in university campus during COVID-19.

Abstract

The pandemic of COVID-19 currently shadows the world; the whole earth has been on an unprecedented lockdown. Social distancing among people interrupted domestic and international air traffic, suspended industrial productions and economic activities, and had various far-reaching and undetermined implications on air quality. Improvement in air quality has been reported in many cities during the lockdown. On March 22, 2020, the Turkish government enforced strict lockdown measures to reduce coronavirus disease transmission. This lockdown had a significant impact on the movement of people within the country, which resulted in a major drop in worldwide commercial activities. During this period, university campuses were emptied due to the transition to distance education. In this study, various air pollutants sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), total bacteria, and total fungi were measured in different indoor environments at Eskişehir Technical University Campus in Eskişehir, Turkey during COVID-19 lock down period. Also, to calculate the indoor and outdoor ratios (I/O) of the pollutants, simultaneous outdoor measurements were also carried out. The average indoor SO2, NO2, O3, and PM2.5 concentrations in different indoor environments ranged between 2.10 and 54.58, 1.36–30.89, 12.01–39.05, and 21–94 μg/m3, respectively. The total number of bacteria and fungi ranged between 21.83-514.15 and 13.10–83.36 CFU/m3, respectively. Our study intends to give a glimpse to quantify the impact of a pandemic on air quality in different indoor environments in a university campus in Eskişehir, Turkey and calls for follow-up studies. Indoor concentrations were evaluated together with outdoor concentrations. In general, it can be said that the calculated I/O ratios for SO2, NO2, O3, bacteria, and fungi were less than 1 in most indoor environments.

Keywords

Bioaerosols
COVID-19 pandemic period
Gaseous & PM2.5 emissions
Indoor air quality
University campus

Abbreviations

Sulfur dioxide
SO2
Nitrogen dioxide
NO2
Ozone
O3
Particulate matter
PM
Indoor outdoor ratios
I/O
NOx
Nitrogen oxide
CFU
Colony forming units
IMA
Index of microbial air contamination

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