Effects of Pandemic on Human Health due to Changes in Transportation

Effects of Pandemic on Human Health due to Changes in Transportation

By: Sloane Rauschenbach

When I initially began this research project, I knew that I wanted to connect methods of transportation in Bloomington to human health, and I was primarily interested in the exercise aspect of it. After I began researching, I realized that there have been various changes in the use of different methods of transportation since the start of the pandemic this year. This sparked my interest in how the spread of COVID-19 could affect the rates of transportation or individuals preferred method of transportation. Since COVID-19 is a respiratory virus, I thought that it would be more beneficial to focus on respiratory health of humans rather than physical fitness, but I will touch lightly on the other subject. To do this, I decided to connect carbon dioxide emissions from transportation methods to human health. Before I get into my results, I’m going to quickly review my experimental design to refresh the information.

Hypothesis:The ongoing pandemic has caused a decrease in overall transportation and changes in choice of transportation for Indiana University students, people in Bloomington, and around the world. This has caused a decrease in CO₂emissions and in effect, benefitted human health.

Methods:For my own personal research collection, I conducted a survey with five multiple choice questions and two free response questions regarding transportation in Bloomington, specifically the methods in which they transport themselves to class and the reasons why they choose these methods. The sample size was 34 college-aged students. Additionally, I conducted further research through previous studies to help support or refute my hypothesis.

 

Results:

Question #1: Before COVID-19, what was your main form of transportation to class?

Form of Transportation	Number of Students
Walking	25
Biking
Public Transportation	8
Electronic Scooter	1
Other

 

 

 

 

 

Question #2: During COVID-19, what is your main form of transportation to class?

Form of Transportation	Number of Students
Walking	16
Biking
Public Transportation
Electronic Scooter	1
No in-person Classes	14
Other	2

Responses to other: “driving”, “driven by a friend”

 

Question #3: When considering your method of transportation, what factors influence your decision making? (check all that apply)

Influencing Factors	Number of Students
Weather	32
Parking	23
Environmental concerns	5
Finances	9
Time efficiency	26
Distance	27
Coronavirus exposure	7
Other	1

Responses to other: “none”

Question #4: Is the environment ever a concern for you when considering your method of transportation? (think air pollution)

Number of students who responded yes: 15

Number of students who responded no: 19

Question #5: Does the decrease in public transportation in Bloomington affect your decision making?

Number of students who responded yes: 13

Number of students who responded no: 21

Question #6: Do you think that the pandemic has increased or decreased air pollution? Why or why not?

Number of students who responded increased: 2

Number of students who responded decreased: 27

Number of students who did not respond: 5

Question #7: Is there anything else regarding transportation that has changed significantly this year?

• “Airlines had difficulties”
• “Ubering”
• “Masks”
• “Yes way less people on the road”
• “Masked required. Reduced capacity of people.”
• “Less accessibility”
• “Capacity has decreased on busses”
• “Less public transportation”
  • The other participants had no response.

 

Analysis:

Based on the results from my personal data, I was able to conclude from the first and second questions that there was an overall decrease in all methods of transportation due to the fact that many of the students did not have to attend in-person classes. The third question touches on the factors that affect their decision making when it comes to transportation. I purposefully included various reasons so that I could see how large of an effect the pandemic had on their decision making. From this data, I can conclude that the majority of the students are not especially concerned about coronavirus exposure, rather they are more influenced by weather conditions, parking availability, and time efficiency. Since I am connecting my data to carbon dioxide emissions, I thought it was important to question whether or not students ever thought about environmental concerns when choosing their method of transportation. 15 students responded yes and 19 responded no. Looking back, I don’t find this data significant to the original hypothesis, but it could potentially be significant to a future study. When analyzing the results from question five, I can conclude that the majority of students believed they were not affected by a decrease in public transportation in Bloomington. The results from question six shows that the vast majority of students believe that the pandemic has caused an overall decrease in air pollution, with two students responding that they believe air pollution has increased, and five students neglected to answer. I will return to question seven in the conclusion of my post because I was curious to hear any other thoughts or concerns regarding transportation, but the information is not as significant to my data collection.

From further research, I found that the use of transportation has declined all over the world, especially air travel. “At the pandemics peak in the United States, there was a 96% reduction in air travelers, which had shifted to a 73% reduction by mid-summer.”⁴There are projections that this reduction could take years to recover because we have yet to see the comeback that we have expected. When looking at the Changes in Mobility by State, I found that personal trips in Indiana were up 6.9% on March 1^stthis year when compared to 2019, but by March 29^ththe percentage had fallen to -37.2%.²These statistics seem to be levelling out to around 20% nearing the end of this year. This information is interesting to me because one of the students responded in the poll that they believed carbon dioxide emissions would increase because people are more likely to use their personal vehicles to avoid exposure to the coronavirus. Based on these statistics, I can conclude that this is not the case and personal trips are still occurring less frequently than they have previously. I also found data describing how public transit took a major hit since the start of the pandemic. “According to data from the National Transit Database, monthly transit ridership hit a low of 156.6 million rides in April 2020—that’s 81.3% lower than the 835.2 million rides taken in April 2019.”¹⁴This article also states that ridership is on the uphill climb but it is nowhere near where it used to be.

Since transportation has been on the decline since the start of the pandemic, the “international response to the coronavirus pandemic has so far slashed global carbon emissions by more than 8%”.¹³This information came from a study that occurred in May of 2020. Additionally, The Global Carbon Project indicated that global carbon emissions were reduced by 17% during the lockdown period of the pandemic.⁸Since the future is so unknown, the Global Carbon Project was unable to comment on whether or not these emissions would stay reduced in the near or distant future. An additional source also discussed how it is extremely difficult to predict the future of transportation, whether it will stay decreased or if changes will be made, until we further progress into the recovery process.¹⁵According to a study correlating the pandemic and air quality, COVID-19 has led to improved air quality associated with a drastic drop in carbon dioxide emissions.¹⁰Air quality is especially important during this pandemic, because the virus attacks the respiratory system, and people with long term exposure to polluted air are more at risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in addition to cardiovascular or high blood pressure diseases.⁷People with these conditions are more at risk to the harsh effects of the coronavirus, and more likely to be hospitalized and in extreme cases, more likely to experience morbidity. On the positive side, the decrease in transportation due to the pandemic has a positive correlation with increased human health and preventing cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses.¹Another correlation with the decrease in transportation is the increase in sedentary behavior in humans.⁵Since the start of the pandemic, there have been many policies put into place that are forcing people to stay at home and even away from work. Because of the pandemic, people are not as active as they used to be because they fear that they will contract the coronavirus in public places. This could have a negative effect on human health because, “Evidence has emerged identifying habitual sedentary behavior (prolonged sitting) as a novel risk factor for cardiometabolic disease and all-cause mortality”.⁶This is also concerning because new information about the virus has recently emerged that it can have detrimental effects on the heart such as lack of oxygen, inflammation of the heart, and stress cardiomyopathy.⁹Contracting coronavirus while engaging in sedentary behavior may became a dangerous duo when it comes to human heart health.¹¹

Conclusion:

Based on my personal and additional online research, I have concluded that there has been an overall decrease in transportation due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since the start of the pandemic, carbon dioxide emissions have dropped significantly which is beneficial for human health because they are less at risk for cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses.¹²This is especially important during the pandemic since the coronavirus worsens symptoms in those who are already experiencing difficulties with their respiratory and cardiovascular systems.³On the other hand, the decrease in transportation could potentially have negative effects on human health because they are engaging in more sedentary lifestyles in order to quarantine and avoid exposure to the virus.⁸My personal data did not conclude that people are changing their choice of transportation because of the pandemic, but this data could be biased because I was surveying college kids who may think differently about the pandemic since they are not a high-risk population. In the future, I think it would be beneficial for me to survey people in different age groups or those who are at high risk so that my data can be more representative of the population. Additionally, for my seventh question a couple students made suggestions that I think could be beneficial to research in the future. For example, one of the students responded that they believe there has been a decrease in the amount of Uber rides taken and an increase in the use of electronic scooters. This could be interesting data to add to my continued research. Another student proposed that the pandemic may have made people realize that we can reduce our carbon emissions more easily than we thought and that the pandemic could be a good example for combatting future environmental concerns. Overall, I can conclude that the decrease in transportation can be beneficial or detrimental to human health, and I am intrigued to see what the use of transportation will look like in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources

(1)Bergeron, Louis. “Study Links Carbon Dioxide Emissions to Increased Deaths.” Stanford University, 3 Jan. 2008, news.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/co-010908.html.

(2)“Changes in Mobility by State: Bureau of Transportation Statistics.” Changes in Mobility by State | Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation, 29 Nov. 2020, www.bts.gov/content/changes-mobility-state.

(3)Conrad, Katherine. “We Thought It Was Just a Respiratory Virus.” We Thought It Was Just a Respiratory Virus | UC San Francisco, 10 Dec. 2020, www.ucsf.edu/magazine/covid-body.

(4)Ewoldsen, Beth. “COVID-19 Trends Impacting the Future of Transportation Planning and Research.” COVID-19 Trends Impacting the Future of Transportation Planning and Research | National Academies, National Academy of Engineering, 8 Sept. 2020, www.nationalacademies.org/trb/blog/covid-19-trends-impacting-the-future-of-transportation-planning-and-research.

(5)Fell, Andy. “Mobility in the Pandemic – and After.” UC Davis, 19 Aug. 2020, www.ucdavis.edu/coronavirus/news/mobility-pandemic-and-after/.

(6)Hall, Grenita, et al. “A Tale of Two Pandemics: How Will COVID-19 and Global Trends in Physical Inactivity and Sedentary Behavior Affect One Another?” Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, Elsevier Inc., 8 Apr. 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7194897/.

(7)Manisalidis, Ioannis, et al. “Environmental and Health Impacts of Air Pollution: A Review.” Frontiers in Public Health, Frontiers Media S.A., 20 Feb. 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7044178/.

(8)Maragakis, Lisa Lockerd. “Coronavirus, Social and Physical Distancing and Self-Quarantine.” Johns Hopkins Medicine, www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-social-distancing-and-self-quarantine.

(9)Michos, Erin Donnelly. “Can Coronavirus Cause Heart Damage?” Johns Hopkins Medicine, 24 Apr. 2020, www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/can-coronavirus-cause-heart-damage.

(10)Nullis, Clare. “Carbon Dioxide Levels Continue at Record Levels, despite COVID-19 Lockdown.” World Meteorological Organization, 23 Nov. 2020, public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/carbon-dioxide-levels-continue-record-levels-despite-covid-19-lockdown.

(11)Owen, Neville, et al. “Sedentary Behavior: Emerging Evidence for a New Health Risk.” Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Dec. 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2996155/.

(12)Rupani, P F, et al. “Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) and Its Natural Environmental Impacts.” International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology : IJEST, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 1 Sept. 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7459942/.

(13)Tollefson, Jeff. How the Coronavirus Pandemic Slashed Carbon Emissions–in Five Graphs. 20 May 2020, dhushara.com/Biocrisis/20/5/less%20co2.pdf.

(14)USAFacts. “Monthly Public Transit Ridership Is 65% Lower than before the Pandemic.” USAFacts, USAFacts, 13 Oct. 2020, usafacts.org/articles/covid-public-transit-decline/.

(15)Winfree, Greg. “COVID-19 and the Future of Transportation.” Center for Advancing Research in Transportation Emissions, Energy, and Health, 2020, www.carteeh.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Impact-of-COVID-19-on-Transportation.pdf.