COVID-19 Stay-At-Home Orders and Secondhand Smoke in Public Housing

Introduction: This study aimed to better understand the inequitable impact of the pandemic by examining the associations between stay-at-home orders and indoor smoking in public housing, mea-sured by ambient particulate matter at the 2.5-micron threshold, a marker for secondhand smoke.Methods: Particulate matter at the 2.5-micron threshold was measured in 6 public-housing build-ings in Norfolk, VA from 2018 to 2022. Multilevel regression was used to compare the 7-week period of the Virginia stay-at-home order in 2020 with that period in other years.Results: Indoor particulate matter at the 2.5-micron threshold was 10.29 mg/m3 higher in 2020 (95% CI=8.51, 12.07) than in the same period in 2019, a 72% increase. Although particulate matter at the 2.5-micron threshold improved in 2021 and 2022, it remained elevated relative to the level in 2019.Conclusions: Stay-at-home orders likely led to increased indoor secondhand smoke in public housing. In light of evidence linking air pollutants, including secondhand smoke, with COVID-19, these results also provide further evidence of the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on socio-economically disadvantaged communities. This consequence of the pandemic response is unlikely to be isolated and calls for a critical examination of the COVID-19 experience to avoid similar pol-icy failures in future public health crises. Am J Prev Med 2023;65(3):512-516.& COPY; 2023 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study aimed to better understand the inequitable impact of the pandemic by examining the associations between stay-at-home orders and indoor smoking in public housing, measured by ambient particulate matter at the 2.5-micron threshold, a marker for secondhand smoke. The study found that stay-at-home orders led to increased indoor secondhand smoke in public housing, highlighting the disproportionate impact on socio-economically disadvantaged communities.