Measurement of carbon monoxide concentrations during the community activities restrictions enforcement level 4 in the Covid-19 pandemic in Makassar city, Indonesia.

The implementation of Community Activities Restrictions Enforcement (PPKM) during the Covid-19 pandemic reduced activities in the transportation sector. This paper presents the measurement of Carbon Monoxide (CO) concentrations during the PPKM in Makassar City, Indonesia. The samples were collected weekly from August to September 2021 from two traffic-heavy roads using Tedlar bags and a vacuum pump and then analyzed using the Non-Dispersive Infrared method (NDIR). Results showed that the average concentrations of CO on the first street in the morning, midday, and afternoon were 826.63±83.34 µg/m³, 685.65±57.43 µg/m³, 861.6±59.79 µg/m³, respectively; and on the second street were 875.46±77.80 µg/m³, 741.80±62.95 µg/m³, 833.04±44.80 µg/m³, respectively. These CO concentrations measured during the PPKM are lower than those measured before the PPKM on the same sites, reported in another paper. The concentrations are also much lower than those of the Air Quality Standard in Makassar, 30,000 µg/m³. This finding implies that similar policies to reduce traffic and pollution, such as car-free-day, should be enacted to improve air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]