Pandemic COVID-19 ends but soil pollution increases: Impacts and a new approach for risk assessment.

For three years, a large amount of manufactured pollutants such as plastics, antibiotics and disinfectants has been released into the environment due to COVID-19. The accumulation of these pollutants in the environment has exacerbated the damage to the soil system. However, since the epidemic outbreak, the focus of researchers and public attention has consistently been on human health. It is noteworthy that studies conducted in conjunction with soil pollution and COVID-19 represent only 4 % of all COVID-19 studies. In order to enhance researchers' and the public awareness of the seriousness on the COVID-19 derived soil pollution, we propose the viewpoint that "pandemic COVID-19 ends but soil pollution increases" and recommend a whole-cell biosensor based new method to assess the environmental risk of COVID-19 derived pollutants. This approach is expected to provide a new way for environmental risk assessment of soils affected by contaminants produced from the pandemic.

Effects of Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and environmental pollution assessment in Campania region (Italy) through the analysis of heavy metals in honeybees.

The Covid-19 outbreak had a critical impact on a massive amount of human activities as well as the global health system. On the other hand, the lockdown and related suspension of working activities reduced pollution emissions. The use of biomonitoring is an efficient and quite recent tool to assess environmental pollution through the analysis of a proper bioindicator, such as bees. This study set out to ascertain the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown on the environmental occurrence of eleven heavy metals in the Campania region (Italy) by analyzing bees and bee products. A further aim of this study was the assessment of the Honeybee Contamination Index (HCI) in three different areas of the Campania region and its comparison with other Italian areas to depict the current environmental pollutants levels of heavy metals. The results showed that the levels of heavy metals bioaccumulated by bees during the pandemic lockdown (T1) were statistically lower than the sampling times after Covid-19 restrictions and the resumption of some or all activities (T2 and T3). A comparable trend was observed in wax and pollen. However, bee, pollen, and wax showed higher levels of Cd and Hg in T1 than T2 and T3. The analysis of the HCI showed a low contamination level of the sampling sites for Cd and Pb, and an intermediate-high level as regards Ni and Cr. The biomonitoring study highlighted a decrease of heavy metals in the environmental compartments due to the intense pandemic restrictions. Therefore, Apis mellifera and other bee products remain a reliable and alternative tool for environmental pollution assessment.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 environmental contamination in hospital rooms is uncommon using viral culture techniques.

We assessed environmental contamination of inpatient rooms housing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in a dedicated COVID-19 unit. Contamination with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was found on 5.5% (19/347) of surfaces via reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and 0.3% (1/347) of surfaces via cell culture. Environmental contamination is uncommon in hospitals rooms; RNA presence is not a specific indicator of infectious virus.

Assessment of medical waste generation, associated environmental impact, and management issues after the outbreak of COVID-19: A case study of the Hubei Province in China.

COVID-19 greatly challenges the human health sector, and has resulted in a large amount of medical waste that poses various potential threats to the environment. In this study, we compiled relevant data released by official agencies and the media, and conducted data supplementation based on earlier studies to calculate the net value of medical waste produced in the Hubei Province due to COVID-19 with the help of a neural network model. Next, we reviewed the data related to the environmental impact of medical waste per unit and designed four scenarios to estimate the environmental impact of new medical waste generated during the pandemic. The results showed that a medical waste generation rate of 0.5 kg/bed/day due to COVID-19 resulted in a net increase of medical waste volume by about 3366.99 tons in the Hubei Province. In the four scenario assumptions, i.e., if the medical waste resulting from COVID-19 is completely incinerated, it will have a large impact on the air quality. If it is disposed by distillation sterilization, it will produce a large amount of wastewater and waste residue. Based on the results of the study, we propose three policy recommendations: strict control of medical wastewater discharge, reduction and transformation of the emitted acidic gases, and attention to the emission of metallic nickel in exhaust gas and chloride in soil. These policy recommendations provide a scientific basis for controlling medical waste pollution.

The nexus between health status and health expenditure, energy consumption and environmental pollution: empirical evidence from SAARC-BIMSTEC regions.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for the betterment of health status, while also considering health expenditure, energy, and environmental issues. This paper examines the nexus between health status and health expenditure (both public and private), energy consumption and environmental pollution in the SAARC-BIMSTEC region. METHODS: We utilized the panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, the heterogeneous panel causality test, the cross sectional dependence test, the cointegration test and the Pesaran cross sectional dependent (CADF) unit root test for obtaining estimated results from data over 16 years (2002-2017). RESULTS: Our results authorize the cointegration among the variables used, where the coefficients of energy consumption, public and private health expenditures, and economic growth are 0.027, 0.014, 0.030, and 0.029, respectively, and indicating positive and statistically significant effects. The coefficient of environmental pollution is - 0.085, implying significant negative effect on the health status of these regions in the long-run. However, no panel wise significant impact is found in the short-run. Bidirectional and unidirectional causal links between the studied variables and the health status are also identified.. CONCLUSIONS: The improved health status in the SAARC-BIMSTEC region needs to be protected by articulating the effective policies. The attained results are theoretically and empirically consistent, and have important policy implications in the health sector.

Cause analysis of PM2.5 pollution during the COVID-19 lockdown in Nanning, China.

To analyse the cause of the atmospheric PM2.5 pollution that occurred during the COVID-19 lockdown in Nanning, Guangxi, China, a single particulate aerosol mass spectrometer, aethalometer, and particulate Lidar coupled with monitoring near-surface gaseous pollutants, meteorological conditions, remote fire spot sensing by satellite and backward trajectory models were utilized during 18-24 February 2020. Three haze stages were identified: the pre-pollution period (PPP), pollution accumulation period (PAP) and pollution dissipation period (PDP). The dominant source of PM2.5 in the PPP was biomass burning (BB) (40.4%), followed by secondary inorganic sources (28.1%) and motor vehicle exhaust (11.7%). The PAP was characterized by a large abundance of secondary inorganic sources, which contributed 56.1% of the total PM2.5 concentration, followed by BB (17.4%). The absorption Ångström exponent (2.2) in the PPP was higher than that in the other two periods. Analysis of fire spots monitored by remote satellite sensing indicated that open BB in regions around Nanning City could be one of the main factors. A planetary boundary layer-relative humidity-secondary particle matter-particulate matter positive feedback mechanism was employed to elucidate the atmospheric processes in this study. This study highlights the importance of understanding the role of BB, secondary inorganic sources and meteorology in air pollution formation and calls for policies for emission control strategies.

Natural processes dominate the pollution levels during COVID-19 lockdown over India.

The lockdown measures that were taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic minimized anthropogenic activities and created natural laboratory conditions for studying air quality. Both observations and WRF-Chem simulations show a 20-50% reduction (compared to pre-lockdown and same period of previous year) in the concentrations of most aerosols and trace gases over Northwest India, the Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP), and the Northeast Indian regions. It is shown that this was mainly due to a 70-80% increase in the height of the boundary layer and the low emissions during lockdown. However, a 60-70% increase in the pollutants levels was observed over Central and South India including the Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal during this period, which is attributed to natural processes. Elevated (dust) aerosol layers are transported from the Middle East and Africa via long-range transport, and a decrease in the wind speed (20-40%) caused these aerosols to stagnate, enhancing the aerosol levels over Central and Southern India. A 40-60% increase in relative humidity further amplified aerosol concentrations. The results of this study suggest that besides emissions, natural processes including background meteorology and dynamics, play a crucial role in the pollution concentrations over the Indian sub-continent.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleic acid contamination of surfaces on a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ward and intensive care unit.

On coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) wards, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleic acid was frequently detected on high-touch surfaces, floors, and socks inside patient rooms. Contamination of floors and shoes was common outside patient rooms on the COVID-19 wards but decreased after improvements in floor cleaning and disinfection were implemented.

The distribution of SARS-CoV-2 contamination on the environmental surfaces during incubation period of COVID-19 patients.

Roles of environmental factors in transmission of COVID-19 have been highlighted. In this study, we sampled the high-touch environmental surfaces in the quarantine room, aiming to detect the distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on the environmental surfaces during the incubation period of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Fifteen sites were sampled from the quarantine room, distributing in the functional areas such as bedroom, bathroom and living room. All environmental surface samples were collected with sterile polyester-tipped applicator pre-moistened in viral transport medium and tested for SARS-CoV-2. Overall, 34.1% of samples were detected positively for SARS-CoV-2. The positive rates of Patient A, B and C, were 46.2%, 0% and 61.5%, respectively. SARS-CoV-2 was detected positively in bedroom and bathroom, with the positive rate of 50.0% and 46.7%, respectively. In contrast, living room had no positive sample detected. Environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2 distributes widely during the incubation period of COVID-19, and the positive rates of SARS-CoV-2 on environmental surfaces are relatively high in bathroom and bedroom.

Wildfire and COVID-19 pandemic: effect of environmental pollution PM-2.5 and carbon monoxide on the dynamics of daily cases and deaths due to SARS-COV-2 infection in San-Francisco USA.

OBJECTIVE: The wildfire allied environmental pollution is highly toxic and can cause significant wide-ranging damage to the regional environment, weather conditions, and it can facilitate the transmission of microorganisms and diseases. The present study aims to investigate the effect of wildfire allied pollutants, particulate matter (PM-2.5 µm), and carbon monoxide (CO) on the dynamics of daily cases and deaths due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in San Francisco, USA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For this study, we selected San Francisco, one of the regions affected by the wildfires allied pollution in California, USA. The data on the COVID-19 pandemic in San Francisco, including daily new cases and new deaths were recorded from Worldometer Web. The daily environmental pollutants particulate matter (PM-2.5 µm) and carbon monoxide (CO) were recorded from the metrological web "BAAQMD". The daily cases, deaths, particulate matter (PM-2.5 µm) and carbon monoxide were documented from the date of the occurrence of the first case of (SARS-CoV-2) in San Francisco, CA, USA, from March 20, 2020 to Sept 16, 2020. RESULTS: The results revealed a significant positive correlation between the environmental pollutants particulate matter (PM2.5 µm) and the number of daily cases (r=0.203, p=0.007), cumulative cases (r=0.567, p<0.001) and cumulative deaths (r=0.562, p<0.001); whereas the PM2.5 µm and daily deaths had no relationship (r=-0.015, p=0.842). In addition, CO was also positively correlated with cumulative cases (r=0.423, p<0.001) and cumulative deaths (r=0.315, p<0.001), however, CO had no correlation with the number of daily cases (r=0.134, p=0.075) and daily deaths (r=0.030, p=0.693). In San Francisco, one micrometer (µg/m3) increase in PM2.5 caused an increase in the daily cases, cumulative cases and cumulative deaths of SARS-COV-2 by 0.5%, 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively. Moreover, with a 1 part per million (ppm) increase in carbon monoxide level, the daily number of cases, cumulative cases and cumulative deaths increased by 5%, 9.3% and 5.3%, respectively. On the other hand, CO and daily deaths had no significant relationship. CONCLUSIONS: The wildfire allied pollutants, particulate matter PM-2.5µm and CO have a positive association with an increased number of SARS-COV-2 daily cases, cumulative cases and cumulative deaths in San Francisco. The metrological, disaster management and health officials must implement the necessary policies and assist in planning to minimize the wildfire incidences, environmental pollution and COVID-19 pandemic both at regional and international levels.

Environmental contamination in the isolation rooms of COVID-19 patients with severe pneumonia requiring mechanical ventilation or high-flow oxygen therapy.

BACKGROUND: Identifying the extent of environmental contamination of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is essential for infection control and prevention. The extent of environmental contamination has not been fully investigated in the context of severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients. AIM: To investigate environmental SARS-CoV-2 contamination in the isolation rooms of severe COVID-19 patients requiring mechanical ventilation or high-flow oxygen therapy. METHODS: Environmental swab samples and air samples were collected from the isolation rooms of three COVID-19 patients with severe pneumonia. Patients 1 and 2 received mechanical ventilation with a closed suction system, while patient 3 received high-flow oxygen therapy and non-invasive ventilation. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) was used to detect SARS-CoV-2; viral cultures were performed for samples not negative on rRT-PCR. FINDINGS: Of the 48 swab samples collected in the rooms of patients 1 and 2, only samples from the outside surfaces of the endotracheal tubes tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by rRT-PCR. However, in patient 3's room, 13 of the 28 environmental samples (fomites, fixed structures, and ventilation exit on the ceiling) showed positive results. Air samples were negative for SARS-CoV-2. Viable viruses were identified on the surface of the endotracheal tube of patient 1 and seven sites in patient 3's room. CONCLUSION: Environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2 may be a route of viral transmission. However, it might be minimized when patients receive mechanical ventilation with a closed suction system. These findings can provide evidence for guidelines for the safe use of personal protective equipment.

Environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea.

OBJECTIVES: Although contact precaution is generally recommended in situations where coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is suspected, there is limited evidence on environmental contamination of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Therefore, we conducted environmental surveillance on SARS-CoV-2 contamination in 2 different healthcare settings. METHODS: Viral contamination was investigated on the environment of 2 hospitals that had admitted 13 COVID-19 patients. In hospital A, 5 patients with pneumonia occupied negative pressure rooms. In hospital B, 8 asymptomatic patients shared 2 common 4-bed rooms. Most rooms were poorly cleaned or disinfected. Environmental swab were collected from inside and outside the rooms and were tested using real-time RT-PCR for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. RESULTS: In hospital A, SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 10 of 57 (17.5%) samples from inside the rooms including the Ambu bag and infusion pump. Two samples obtained at more than 2 m from the patients showed positive results. In hospital B, 3 of 22 (13.6%) samples from inside the rooms were positive. Areas outside the rooms, such as the anteroom, corridor, and nursing station, were all negative in both hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital surfaces surrounding patients were contaminated by SARS-CoV-2. Our findings support the value of strict contact precaution, routine cleaning, and disinfection in the management of COVID-19 patients.