Does lockdown in the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic increase or reduce noise pollution in urban environment?

Abstract

The pandemic dissemination of Sars-CoV-2 throughout over 100 countries worldwide caused various governments to impose social mobility restriction measures known as “lockdown”. This scenario may have, as a side effect, a perception of reduction in noise pollution, that may be supported by assessing the noise impact in public environments of cities undergoing lockdown measures. However, there are reports of higher numbers of complaints to authorities due to noise pollution arising from residential areas, which may indicate, conversely, an increase in noise pollution. Considering these dual facets of the subject is important to any study that wishes to deepen analyses. Noise pollution and its damaging effects on health are of great relevance in the current pandemic scenario, since they may sum themselves to various other stressors that, collectively, jeopardize the mental health of populations in such scenario. This work, based on scientific and press publications made during the period, analyzes and discusses the different facets of this situation that can influence the development of public health policies.