Integrating “Impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on air quality” in STEM courses and internships for undergraduate students

Air pollution is a global public health concern and has led to millions of premature deaths worldwide. In overpopulated cities, particulate matter such PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) in the troposphere have deleterious effects on human health leading to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The students in two undergraduate courses (Principles of Biology for Honors students and Ecology) and one graduate course (Teaching STEM at the K-12 schools) at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore;and summer-exchange undergraduate engineering interns learnt about the positive and negative effects of Covid-19 pandemic on air quality for some of the selected overpopulated cities in the world that witnessed lockdowns from March 2020 through spring 2021. The STEM students as well as the interns had the opportunity to learn how to analyze the real-time and historical air quality data from the Environmental Protection's Agency's centralized data system, AirNow, as well as from the Air Quality Open Data Platform (https://aqicn.org/data-platform/covid19) Worldwide Covid-19 dataset. For the above-mentioned courses, the materials pertaining to Covid-19 and air quality were taught in the form of modules (two for each course) with lectures;discussions and class debates;video materials;simulations with real-time data;and a project centering on that theme. The engineering students who worked as summer interns worked on analyzing data from five of the major cities in the world. Besides analyzing the effects of the pandemic on PM2.5, NO2, and O3 in the selected populated cities, the students also studied whether any correlations existed among the air quality parameters or not. The students' learning outcomes included honing content knowledge in atmospheric chemistry and physics of particulate matter;environmental sciences and engineering;public health and policies;research skills with respect to data analysis and problem-solving;as well as presentation and writing skills. The students and interns in the courses and internships also addressed and debated on the various issues of sustainability, which encompasses social, environmental, economic considerations along with policies. The crisis of the pandemic on climate change is dependent on the policies of the governments towards which directions the economies need to head. When the governments prioritize to shift from fossil fuels to cleaner energy such as wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels, then the mitigation efforts of climate change could come to fruition. It is anticipated that with more ongoing collaborations across disciplines, the authors will be able to permanently integrate these diverse components in other STEM courses such as Statistics for Engineers, Big Data Analytics, and enhance multidisciplinary learning for all majors. This integration of research findings in STEM courses is a reflection of the KDB (Know, Do, Be) framework, as the interns and the students honed their skills not only in content knowledge through inquiry, but felt responsible in taking action towards mitigation efforts of climate change. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022

Evolution of noise pollution reports during COVID-19

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Government of Victoria implemented measures, including several periods of'lockdown' that involved strict constraints on travel, and required people to work from home where possible. For most Victorians, these restrictions led to reduced noise from road traffic and from aircraft, however they appear to have resulted in increased exposure to other sources of noise. The number of pollution reports received by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria in relation to noise more than doubled in the period from January to July 2020 (which covered several episodes of lockdown), compared with the same period in the previous year (with no lockdowns). This paper investigates the evolution of noise reports during 2020 and 2021, giving regard to the alleged noise source categories used in their triage. Copyright© (2021) by Australian Acoustical Society. All rights reserved.

Present cum future of SARS-CoV-2 virus and its associated control of virus-laden air pollutants leading to potential environmental threat - A global review.

The world is presently infected by the biological fever of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus. The present study is mainly related to the airborne transmission of novel coronavirus through airway. Similarly, our mother planet is suffering from drastic effects of air pollution. There are sufficient probabilities or evidences proven for contagious virus transmission through polluted airborne-pathway in formed aerosol molecules. The pathways and sources of spread are detailed along with the best possible green control technologies or ideas to hinder further transmission. The combined effects of such root causes and unwanted outcomes are similar in nature leading to acute cardiac arrest of our planet. To maintain environmental sustainability, the prior future of such emerging unknown biological hazardous air emissions is to be thoroughly researched. So it is high time to deal with the future of hazardous air pollution and work on its preventive measures. The lifetime of such an airborne virus continues for several hours, thus imposing severe threat even during post-lockdown phase. The world waits eagerly for the development of successful vaccination or medication but the possible outcome is quite uncertain in terms of equivalent economy distribution and biomedical availability. Thus, risk assessments are to be carried out even during the post-vaccination period with proper environmental surveillance and monitoring. The skilled techniques of disinfection, sanitization, and other viable wayouts are to be modified with time, place, and prevailing climatic conditions, handling the pandemic efficiently. A healthy atmosphere makes the earth a better place to dwell, ensuring its future lifecycle.

SARS-CoV-2 in environmental perspective: Occurrence, persistence, surveillance, inactivation and challenges.

The unprecedented global spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) caused by SARS-CoV-2 is depicting the distressing pandemic consequence on human health, economy as well as ecosystem services. So far novel coronavirus (CoV) outbreaks were associated with SARS-CoV-2 (2019), middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV, 2012), and SARS-CoV-1 (2003) events. CoV relates to the enveloped family of Betacoronavirus (ßCoV) with positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA). Knowing well the persistence, transmission, and spread of SARS-CoV-2 through proximity, the faecal-oral route is now emerging as a major environmental concern to community transmission. The replication and persistence of CoV in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and shedding through stools is indicating a potential transmission route to the environment settings. Despite of the evidence, based on fewer reports on SARS-CoV-2 occurrence and persistence in wastewater/sewage/water, the transmission of the infective virus to the community is yet to be established. In this realm, this communication attempted to review the possible influx route of the enteric enveloped viral transmission in the environmental settings with reference to its occurrence, persistence, detection, and inactivation based on the published literature so far. The possibilities of airborne transmission through enteric virus-laden aerosols, environmental factors that may influence the viral transmission, and disinfection methods (conventional and emerging) as well as the inactivation mechanism with reference to the enveloped virus were reviewed. The need for wastewater epidemiology (WBE) studies for surveillance as well as for early warning signal was elaborated. This communication will provide a basis to understand the SARS-CoV-2 as well as other viruses in the context of the environmental engineering perspective to design effective strategies to counter the enteric virus transmission and also serves as a working paper for researchers, policy makers and regulators.

Temporary reduction in fine particulate matter due to 'anthropogenic emissions switch-off' during COVID-19 lockdown in Indian cities.

The COVID-19 pandemic elicited a global response to limit associated mortality, with social distancing and lockdowns being imposed. In India, human activities were restricted from late March 2020. This 'anthropogenic emissions switch-off' presented an opportunity to investigate impacts of COVID-19 mitigation measures on ambient air quality in five Indian cities (Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai), using in-situ measurements from 2015 to 2020. For each year, we isolated, analysed and compared fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration data from 25 March to 11 May, to elucidate the effects of the lockdown. Like other global cities, we observed substantial reductions in PM2.5 concentrations, from 19 to 43% (Chennai), 41-53% (Delhi), 26-54% (Hyderabad), 24-36% (Kolkata), and 10-39% (Mumbai). Generally, cities with larger traffic volumes showed greater reductions. Aerosol loading decreased by 29% (Chennai), 11% (Delhi), 4% (Kolkata), and 1% (Mumbai) against 2019 data. Health and related economic impact assessments indicated 630 prevented premature deaths during lockdown across all five cities, valued at 0.69 billion USD. Improvements in air quality may be considered a temporary lockdown benefit as revitalising the economy could reverse this trend. Regulatory bodies must closely monitor air quality levels, which currently offer a baseline for future mitigation plans.

The two trillion dollar barn: science, prevention, and the lessons of disaster.

The unprecedented scale of the CovID-19 disaster will define public health failure for generations to come. Its causes include inadequate funding, hostility towards science in general and public health science in particular, a government culture steeped in deception and misinformation, and a disdain for collaboration for the greater good among the community of nations. The consequences have been devastating, but it is essential that the public health community uses its moment in the spotlight to promote the agenda of science-based policy, honesty and transparency in communication, and international cooperation to advance the common good of humanity.

Safe and effective disinfection of show cave infrastructure in a time of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has been responsible for over 650,000 deaths worldwide. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurs primarily through airborne transmission or direct human contact, demonstrating the importance of social distancing measures and the use of face masks to prevent infection. Nonetheless, the persistence of coronavirus on surfaces means that disinfection is important to limit the possibility of contact transmission. In this paper, the potential for various surfaces in show caves to serve as sources for SARS-CoV-2 infection is examined. Given the isoelectric potential (pi) of SARS and SARS-like coronaviruses, it is likely that they are adsorbed via electrochemical interactions to (limestone) rock surfaces, where the high humidity, pH and presence of biocarbonate ions will quickly lead to inactivation. Nonetheless, show caves contain infrastructure made of other non-porous surfaces that are more permissive for maintaining coronavirus viability. The 423 antiviral products approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were curated into 23 antiviral chemistries, which were further classified based on their potential to be hazardous, impact cave features or ecosystems, and those compounds likely to have the minimum impact on caves. The results suggest that alcohols (70% ethanol), organic acids (citric and lactic acid) and dilute hypochlorite represent the best disinfectants for in-cave use on non-porous surfaces. These disinfectants are able to inactivate coronaviruses in 5 min with minimal impact to cave features and ecosystems.