Theo Riady Al Assegaf 4 (UAS)

COVID-19: A PANDEMY FOR HUMAN, BLESSING FOR THE EARTH

A new respiratory virus called the 2019 Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 is making headlines for causing an outbreak of respiratory illness throughout the world. The outbreak began in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, and quickly spread internationally including to the United States. Thousands of people have become sick and public health officials are keeping a close watch on how the virus is spreading.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common throughout the world and can cause respiratory illness in people and animals. Several known coronaviruses infect people and usually only cause mild respiratory disease, such as the common cold. However, at least two previously identified coronaviruses have caused severe illness; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus.

While coronaviruses are common, coronavirus (COVID-19) is a new strain of coronavirus that had previously not been identified in humans. The key features of COVID-19 are respiratory symptoms with a fever and cough. Like all new infections, understanding COVID-19 is important and changes rapidly.

An investigation of the COVID-19 is still ongoing but other human coronaviruses are spread through person-to-person contact. Similar to cold and flu, a person becomes sick through close contact with an infected person. The virus is spread through respiratory droplets produced by an infected person through coughing and sneezing or by touching surfaces with the virus on them.

The COVID-19 crisis has forced activity freezes. Lockdowns and calls to shelter-in-place have closed schools and non-essential businesses. Minimal activity from industrial sites, factories, and construction sectors have minimized the risks for toxins to escape, in turn improving air quality.

Travel bans have similarly restricted international flights. Canceled conferences, festivals, concerts, and other public events have diminished interest in tourism, reports the US Travel Association. Airline ridership has slumped, and airports are as near-empty as they were in 2001 aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. As such, aviation emissions — which accounted for 2.4% of global CO2 emissions in 2018, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) — have dropped significantly.

Both Traffic Technology Today and The Guardian have spotlighted the United Kingdom’s reduced traffic, which has plunged by 73% “to levels not seen since 1955.” And across the Atlantic Ocean, Canadian traffic has also declined, GEOTAB disclosed. As for the U.S., not only has road travel decreased, but congestion has all but disappeared, says VentureBeat, Next City, and USA Today. The decrease in congestion is critical, as idling vehicles emit more pollution.

With substantially less vehicular movement, air quality has improved by leaps and bounds. Numerous sources have covered how air quality indices of the globe’s largest metropolitan areas have improved extensively since strict coronavirus lockdowns were issued. Even NASA satellites from outer-space show the significant reductions in air pollutants, which supports EcoWatch‘s observation that the novel coronavirus pandemic has delivered the silver lining of decreased air pollution.

The Guardian added, “In China, the world’s biggest source of carbon, emissions were down about 18% between early February and mid-March – a cut of 250m tonnes, equivalent to more than half the UK’s annual output. Europe is forecast to see a reduction of around 390m tonnes. Significant falls can also be expected in the US, where passenger vehicle traffic – its major source of CO2 – has fallen by nearly 40%. Even assuming a bounce back once the lockdown is lifted, the planet is expected to see its first fall in global emissions since the 2008-9 financial crisis.”

COVID-19 is indeed a dangerous virus but we must not be too traumatized and too scared. We must know the characteristics of this virus and ways to prevent it. And follow all health protocols to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. And remember the positive impact of COVID-19 lockdown to the environment given that healthy animals living in healthy ecosystems are robust enough to resist diseases, by minimizing climate change and protecting habitats, we may be able to avoid future pandemics.