Rivera, Joanne G.
AM 250
MS Agricultural Economics I
Environmental Health for
COVID-19 Prevention
Humans interact with the environment constantly. These interactions affect
quality of life, years of healthy life lived, and health disparities. The World
Health Organization (WHO) defines environment, as it relates to health, as “all
the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the
related behaviors.” Although the environment sustains human life, it can also
cause diseases. Furthermore, unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation as
well as poor hygiene practices are also responsible for a variety of infectious
diseases. So how much can the burden of disease be reduced by reducing
environmental risks to health? If we can estimate the burden of disease from
environmental risks, we can also evaluate the most important priorities for
targeted environmental protection, while helping to promote the idea that
sound environmental management plays a key role in protecting people’s
health.
However, in just a short span of moment, the world is greatly affected by
the occurence of a pandemic disease called “COVID-19” and thousands of
people have already died, and hundreds of thousands more have fallen ill,
from this coronavirus disease. The way that the virus got started in the first
place isn't clear yet, but one theory involves another animal-human connection,
that the virus started in bats and then got into humans. But what if we, the
humans, are the ones who started this? What if the occurence of this
pandemic is not about how animals and their “germs” are invading our human
realm but about how we’re invading theirs? A lot of people think that “exotic”
animals are to blame for the coronavirus crisis because they’re dirty and
infested with tons of pathogens that just can’t wait to kill us. Frankly speaking,
we all learned in our biology class that we have a lots of microbes inside in our
body but it can turn into a pathogens and cause diseases because they’re new
to us. Likewise, humans also give animals microbes that turn into pathogens
all the time, so we are also reliable for the disease of other species but we will
not further talk about it since we are currently focusing on ways to prevent the
spread of the coronavirus.
COVID-19 spreads by droplets shed of the respiratory system by someone
with the virus, which means that it would spread with higher proximity of people,
larger contact networks and lower levels of hygiene. Most of death cases of
coronavirus outbreak are happening largely in old people possibly due to a
weak immune system that permits rapid growth of viral infections.
The COVID-19 crisis has clearly demonstrated that societies need to
strengthen their resilience to pandemics and other emergencies. Enhancing
environmental health through better air quality, water and sanitation, waste
management, along with efforts to safeguard biodiversity, will reduce the
vulnerability of communities to pandemic and thus, improve overall societal
well-being and resilience. Exposure to ambient and indoor air pollution
increases the risk of cardiovascular, respiratory and developmental diseases,
as well as premature death, and makes individuals more vulnerable to
COVID-19. Water access and quality and biodiversity protection are key to
battling the spread of pandemic, while effective waste management is
essential to minimize possible secondary impacts upon health and the
environment.
The true extent of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis has yet to be fully
determined, but it will be immensely uncontested (Helm, 2020). At the
meantime, it is every individual's duty to follow the protocols to wear facemask
and practice social distancing as well as proper sanitation (Luan and Ching,
2020). We’ve been using up a lot of natural resources and now the bill is
coming due. We’re going to lurch from disaster to disaster to disaster until we
start to really change the fundamental relationship between us and nature.To
the end, it is possible only by mutual understanding and willingness of every
individual to follow health protocols and the world will emerge stronger than
this epidemic.
References:
Helm, D. (2020). The environmental impacts of the coronavirus. Environmental
and Resource Economics. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1007/
s10640-020-00426-z
Luan, P.T., Ching, C.T. & S., (2020). A reusable mask for coronavirus disease
2019 (COVID-19). Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arcmed.2020.
04.001.
Wikipedia. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environment. Retrieved
from:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_on
_the_environment#Wildlife
World Health Organization. (2020). Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019)
situation reports. Geneva: World Health Organization. Retrieved from
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situati
on-reports/
