| Environmental and sustainability aspects of the Covid pandemic Luc Hens1; Nguyen Van Thanh2; Dang Thanh Le3; 1VLAAMSE INSTELLING VOOR TECHNOLOGISCH ONDERZOEK (VITO), , Belgium; 2HAIPHONG UNIVERSITY, , Vietnam; 3NATIONAL ACADEMY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OF S.R. OF VIETNAM, , Vietnam; PAPER: 323/covid19/Regular (Oral) SCHEDULED: 15:55/Wed. 30 Nov. 2022/Ballroom A ABSTRACT: The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is a once in a lifetime experience for the contemporary generations. During the first months of the worldwide epidemy most scientific attention was given to the medical, and in particular the epidemiology and virology aspects. Gradually the reciprocal impact of the environmental quality on the transmission of the virus and the effects of the lockdown to control the transmission become documented and it becomes clear that the disease and the way countries limit its transmission, also had environmental aspects and impacts on sustainability. Sustainable development includes roughly aspects related to economy, society, and environment. The lockdown, which was installed in many countries to limit social contacts and consequently the spread of the disease, has a strong effect on the economy from local to global: In many sectors people lose their jobs, companies struggle with a decreasing profitability, and countries do not know yet how to deal with the financial craters in their budget as a consequence of the ongoing mitigation measures. A systematic 3 R (Reasons-Responses-Recommendations) study reported mainly negative effects on 13 out of the 17 UN Sustainable development goals. Social isolation, considered the most efficient way for a population to control the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, causes psycho-social problems among elderly, young people and other groups in society. It is associated with an increase in security problems and profoundly disturbs tourism and migration. The infection incidence is higher among the poor. At the environmental side the number of and the data on affected aspects either directly by Covid-19 or indirectly through the measures to limit the infection incidence, increase fast. Of notice in the recent literature are: The seasonal transmission of the disease: Covid-19 depends on temperature and humidity. The virus exists during winter, but as soon as the temperature rises there is less transmission. A 1°C rise in temperature reduces transmission by 13%. The infection doubling time corelates inversely with humidity. Covid-19 first infects the upper respiratory tract causing dry cough and fever, and spreads afterwards progressively to the lower respiratory tract and other organs. Therefore interaction with pollutants such as PM2.5, NOx, ozone and SO2 in susceptible groups is not surprising. A minor increase of 1 microgram in PM2.5 concentration is linked with an increase in time on a ventilator in hospitalized patient and possibly an 8% increase of the Covid-19 death rate. Population density: a correlation study in 5 states in India showed that the corona virus spread depends on the spatial distribution of the population density in 3 of these states. At the same time lock-down measures resulted in drastic improvements in the air and water quality in many cities worldwide as a result of a reduction in traffic and industrial activities. This equally resulted in lower emissions of greenhouse gasses. The spread of the virus drives measures to use masks, gloves hand sanitizer and other protection materials. In particular the home use of these items resulted in a massive amount of (semi-) medical waste in the environment, while at the same time specific measures to deal with this problem were absent. These data call to include an interdisciplinary, human ecological approach in the Covid-19 and related prevention strategies. |
