The COVID-19 pandemic and its implications on the environment

Abstract

The emerging threat posed by COVID-19 pandemic has strongly modified our lifestyle, making urgent to re-consider the humans-environment relationships and stimulating towards more sustainable choices in our daily behavior. Scientific evidences showed that the onset of new viral pathogens with a high epidemic-pandemic potential is often the result of complex interactions between animals, humans and environment. In this context, the interest of the scientific community has also been attracted towards the potential interactions of SARS-CoV-2 with environmental compartments. Many issues, ranging from the epidemiology and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in water bodies to the potential implications of lockdown measures on environmental quality status are here reviewed, with a special reference to marine ecosystems. Due to current sanitary emergence, the relevance of pilot studies regarding the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 spread and the direct and indirect environmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, that are still a matter of scientific debate, is underlined.

Energy consumption, thermal comfort, and indoor air quality in mosques: Impact of Covid-19 measures

“… Agarwal et al, 2021 ; Daisey et al, 2872 ; Di Lorenzo and Di Trolio, 2020 ; EN 7730-2005, 2005 ; Facciol à et al, 2021 ; Federal – Provincial Advisory Committee, 1989 ; Health Canada, 1989 ; Majumder and Ray, 2021 ; Presidency of Religious Affairs, 2020b .…”

Implications of COVID-19 pandemic on environmental compartments: Is plastic pollution a major issue?

“…For example, despite the sharp drops early in the first semester (by June 2020), global emissions of CO 2 seemed to bounce back to average (pre-COVID-19) values in the second semester (by October 2020) ( Tollefson, 2021 , Liu et al, 2020 ). This is also predictable for air pollutants, such as SO 2 , NO 2 , and fine particulate matter (PM), with an aggravated scenario as such pollutants have the potential to threaten human and animal health by contributing to pathogen spreading and consequent higher infections (as reviewed by Facciolà et al ( Facciolà et al, 2021 )).…”

“…Several studies have been addressing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environment throughout the first year, although the majority is focused on specific environmental compartments (e.g., air, water, soil, or biota) (see table 1 and references therein) or with a particular perspective (e.g., plastic pollution, chemical pollution, marine environment, virus epidemiology and persistence) (e.g., ( Ong et al, 2021 , Loh et al, 2021 , Facciolà et al, 2021 )). Therefore, this paper provides an overview of the positive and negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic measures and related human activities on the different environmental compartments, along with an integrative discussion on the major drivers and effects in the long term, with particular emphasis on plastic pollution.…”

Photocatalytic Treatments for Personal Protective Equipment: Experimental Microbiological Investigations and Perspectives for the Enhancement of Antimicrobial Activity by Micrometric TiO2

“…The threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic has strongly modified our lifestyles, with the widespread use of masks, raising the need for new strategies in regard to disinfection and environmental tracing [83,84]. Updating personal protective equipment support safety in the fight against the pathogens should reduce (as much as possible) the impact on the environment.…”