ABSTRACT
This chapter adopts an exploratory approach towards analyzing the sustainable soil threats arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic arises from a range of coronaviruses (CoVs) which are believed to be transferable from animals to humans, and are likely to generate interaction with almost all environmental media—the land, soils on it, water and air. Soils are undisputedly the foundation for all environmental considerations, being the basic support for all forms of life. Soils are found in the environment where we live, work, play, learn and worship. Therefore, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is both an environmental matter of grave concern as well as a public health emergency which is threatening sustainable soil management (SSM) and the entire global environment. The pandemic is not only threatening environmental wellbeing, but also the very existence of human life. Both the COVID-19 pandemic and environmental challenges such as climate change and loss of biological diversity have no boundaries and can negatively affect global SSM. This brings the enforcement of a wide range of environmental laws into perspective—waste management, natural resources conservation, pollution control, water and sanitation, including wildlife and other animal-related legislation. In most transition and developing countries, the global pandemic is manifesting alongside inadequate socio-economic bases, poor healthcare facilities, severe environmental degradation, and poor enforcement of laws and policies in the governance and environmental sectors which are closely aligned to public health. This chapter uses desktop research to explore likely threats arising from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and whether the existing law and policy frameworks can provide effective response to the resultant SSM threats. In the wake of the COVID-19 global health challenge, any lapses in enforcing environmental laws and policies may result in worsened challenges. For instance, the global food security threat is likely to escalate owing to soil being polluted and thereby returning poor yields. In the final analysis, if the anticipated threats on SSM are not well managed, there might be significant disturbances in ecosystem support services, leading to further loss of biological diversity among other challenges. In the absence of conclusive information on the full extent of threats to SSM during and post the COVID-19 pandemic, the purpose of this exploratory chapter is to call attention to more research. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Aim of the study: The impact of COVID-19 pandemic put the Italian health system to the test. A retrospective analysis of an Internal Medicine ward experience in north of Italy is described. Materials and Methods: Between september 2020 and june 2021, the Internal Medicine unit of the M. Bufalini Hospital of Cesena managed 954 COVID-19 patients;339 of the totals were hospitalized in sub-intensive area, treated with high flow nasal cannula (25,5%) and non-invasive ventilation support (28,8%). To allow the management of these patients, compared to pre-pandemic, 47 beds and 24 to ordinary and sub-intensive area respectively were added. Results: Patients had an average age of 66 years and 62% of the total was female;prevalent comorbidities were arterial hypertension (53%), smoking habit (28,7%), obesity (27.9%), uncomplicated (10%) and complicated diabetes (9%). Hospitalization lasted about 7 days in the ordinary ward and 13 in the sub-intensive area. The overall mortality rate was 11%. In the considered period, the mean percentage of deaths compared to hospitalizations in Italy was equal to 22.21%. Conclusions: Our organizational model included different areas of intensity care in the same ward, various specialist skills as the pre-existing ability to manage non-invasive ventilation and bedside ultrasound knowledge, as well as an unitary organization and additional nursing assistance well trained. This allowed management of the “complex” COVID patient and even the mortality rate may be the result of this model. These features mark what modern internal medicine should be like.
ABSTRACT
Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) is among the rare complications of Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) and usually involves patients with a severe form of disease who are undergoing treatment with invasive/non-invasive ventilation or high-flow oxygen therapy. A very low percentage of SPM cases are detected in non-ventilated COVID-patients, the underlying causes of which are still to be understood. We report here on the case of a 65-year-old patient with no clinical history of cardiovascular or pulmonary disease who developed SPM within a few days following hospital admission. SPM was detected on chest CT-angiography, and was unrelated to high-flow oxygen treatment.
ABSTRACT
The pandemic caused by Covid-19 has highlighted the vulnerability of the agrifood system. The urgent need to supply fresh food has arisen everywhere. Lockdown slowed down the fresh vegetables supply in the long distance distribution chains. In addition, the total confinement occurred in many countries left the people not only distressed, but also in the need to divert daily spare time to a new home gardening vitalization. During the pandemic, sales in local and street markets declined dramatically, while most purchases became concentrated in supermarkets. This fact has increased the risk of crowdedness and thus contamination or regulated entrances in the supermarkets, or left communities in small towns with limited access to food supply due to the lack of big grocery stores. Gardening can increase opportunities for local and fresh food availability. Scaling-up local food production becomes important to increase resilience of communities. The pandemic may represent an important opportunity to enhance a new era of gardening with modern technology along with traditional systems.