According to NASA scientists, the reduction in NO2 pollution was first apparent near Wuhan, but eventually spread across the country. This is because of disrupting transportation, factories and all things that produce nitrogen dioxide gas. Later, this disease spreads allover the world. This affects on water bodies which have experienced significant impact from the economic slowdown resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Positive impacts due to the reduction of pollutant loading from industries, vehicle emission, and other sources. This decreased the pollution and helped to provide clean fresh water.
The pandemic resulted in the lack of movement of ships and boats that were moving sediments in the water, leading to pollution and the appearance of impurities in the waters of rivers, and after that the water appeared in a pure form free of impurities and others. Also, Most of countries applied the social distancing in order to stop the corona virus (covd-19) or at least slow its spread. The social distancing has good and bad impacts on the environmental and society. The good impacts on environmental represented in road traffic in the most of countries has been lighter and public transportation has been shut down which led to reduce the air pollution. Also, the factories have been stopped so the emissions of CO2 have been reduced as it lowered by 25% in first two weeks of the lunar new year compared to 2019, so the annual total will decrease by approximately 1%. Another good impact is that water in canals and oceans became clearer and it is noted that marine animals are visible swimming now.
But not all the environmental consequences of the crisis have been positive. Volumes of unrecyclable waste have risen; severe cuts in agricultural and fishery export levels have led to the generation of large quantities of organic waste; maintenance and monitoring of natural ecosystems have been temporarily halted; and tourism activity to natural areas has ceased. Local waste problems have emerged as many municipalities have suspended their recycling activities over fears of virus propagation in recycling centers.
The good impact of social distancing on society represents only in slowing the spreading of the virus and reducing the cases. But there are lots of bad impacts such as high unemployment because the factories and companies reduced numbers of workers nearly to the half. this should be solved by constructing small houses near the factories. The social distancing has consequences for mental health and well-being in both the short and long term. this COVID-19 pandemic itself may lead to an increase in the number of cases of depressive disorders and anxiety disorders along with loneliness, social isolation, substance abuse, and a rise in domestic violence. Also, with the schools closed, there is a risk of a sharp rise in the number of cases of child abuse across the nations. social isolation increases the risk of mortality by 29%. People of all ages are susceptible to the ill effects of social isolation and loneliness but for some reasons older people may be more susceptible, including the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and sensory impairments like hearing loss that can make it harder to interact.
The United Kingdom suggest that three steps can be taken to prepare for the “inevitable increase in mental health conditions and associated sequel,” that are to arise once the pandemic abates.
step one of the plan is to develop outlines to deal with loneliness and its long term effects on the populations that are being forced to socially isolate at home during the pandemic. the activities could be done online on a schedule instead of congregating at places of worship, parks, gyms, etc. This will promote a feeling of togetherness, which could be good for mental health.
Step two is to train of the non-traditional help groups and caregivers to provide “psychological first aid” to those in need. Laypersons could be taught how to reach out and help those in need during the early stages of social isolation.
Step three represents in the government as it is concerned with caring for the health of citizens by communicating with them to treat the depression that results from quarantine. The media provides programs that can spread the enjoyment of people and spend leisure time.
As there are many countries began in opening the public areas like clubs and parks, we suggest to make signs such as circles between them the safe distance to people for sitting in them and increasing that in many places to make people able to go out the home and have fun.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic is first and foremost an issue of human health and safety. But as people have changed their everyday behaviors and patterns to contain or avoid the virus, there have been some subtle effects on the environment. There also has been misinformation. Below are four ways the virus is—and is not—affecting the environment in China.
1. Satellites found decreases in one air pollutant, but that doesn’t mean the air is free of all pollution.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10xdA3rhGxtZLU1hOZl3cpo2FdyzO9eZK/view?usp=drivesdk
On February 28, we reported how decreases in industrial, transportation, and business activity since the coronavirus outbreak had reduced levels of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over China. But researchers note that a measurable change in one pollutant does not necessarily mean air quality is suddenly healthy across the country.
In February, news outlets reported unhealthy air pollution in Beijing, which was largely affected by airborne particulate pollution known as PM 2.5. As reported in the South China Morning Post, “weak winds, high humidity and a strong thermal inversion had trapped bad air in the city.” NASA satellites also showed a high load of airborne aerosols. Measurements of aerosol optical depth depict how the abundance of natural or manmade particles in the air prevents light from traveling through the atmosphere to the ground.
Beyond aerosol emissions, weather also plays an important role in determining air quality. NASA/USRA researcher Fei Liu notes that wind patterns and the height of the planetary boundary layer — the lowest layer of the troposphere near Earth’s surface — are important meteorological factors. Planetary boundary layer height influences how air pollution mixes vertically in the atmosphere. If the height of the boundary layer is high, then air pollutants can move higher into the atmosphere and concentrations will be lower near the ground (and vice versa). Liu and her colleagues are currently studying how changes in such meteorological factors may have influenced the decrease in NO2 before and during the quarantine.
It is no surprise that road traffic in China’s major cities has been lighter, as many people have been forced to stay home and public transportation has been shut down. Satellite imagery from Planet Labs captured scenes of reduced traffic and empty parking lots near the Wuhan train station and airport. Trains stopped running around January 22, when the first quarantines began. And compared to late January 2019, domestic flights within mainland China this year dropped by 60 to 70 percent.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/117shX19enm-hpiZZ-nnYsPDdKRFXYcya/view?usp=drivesdk
3. Coal and oil industrial activities have dropped, so carbon dioxide emissions have also decreased.
A report in Carbon Brief stated that key industries in China were operating at much lower-than-normal levels during the quarantine. Oil refinery operations in Shandong province, for instance, were at their lowest since 2015. Average coal consumption at power plants also reached a four-year low. As a result, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions were at least 25 percent lower in the two weeks following the Lunar New Year compared to 2019. However, that decrease in CO2 emissions for two weeks would only reduce annual totals by approximately 1 percent.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11D6foOSg1jBhlp8E_dSEP_8wAG9vjuXd/view?usp=drivesdk
· http://www.emro.who.int/health-topics/corona-virus/about-covid-19.html
· https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146362/airborne-nitrogen-dioxide-plummets-over-china
https://www.researchgate.net/project/Impact-of-the-coronavirus-covid-19-on-the-environment-and-water-resources
https://www.amaneadvisors.com/insight/impact-of-covid-19-on-water/
https://www.rockblue.org/manage-economic-impact-covid-19/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_on_the_environment
https://unctad.org/en/pages/newsdetails.aspx?OriginalVersionID=2333
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/we-are-social-species-how-will-social-distancing-affect-us
https://universe.byu.edu/2020/03/20/social-distancing-causing-unintended-environmental-benefits/
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2020/03/05/how-the-coronavirus-is-and-is-not-affecting-the-environment/