The Noise Climate at the Time of SARS-CoV-2 VIRUS/COVID-19 Disease in Athens – Greece: the Case of Athens International Airport and the Athens Ring Road (attiki Odos)

Abstract In Wuhan city, China, there was an influx of cases of pneumonia. On 9 January 2020, the Health Authorities of China announced that it is a new strain of coronavirus (COVID-19). Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that usually cause respiratory infections with varying severity in humans and animals. After the announcement of the first deaths because of COVID-19 disease, all over the world, as in Greece, concerted efforts are being made to tackle the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus and the relevant COVID-19 disease. To delay and limit the transmission of the virus, national governments implemented strict restrictions on the daily transportation of citizens as well as the supply of non-essential goods. These restrictions caused rapid changes in the daily life of residents mainly in urban areas and significantly affected the noise climate. This paper extensively presents the acoustic recordings of the permanent noise monitoring stations being installed at Athens International Airport and Attica Tollway for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. The compared graphs indicate the strong influence of the new conditions and restrictions applied due to the COVID-19 disease on the daily noise climate both at international airport and on major motorway.