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Financial impacts to the students by Covid 19

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Financial impacts to the students by Covid 19

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What do you think will happen in the future?

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What do you think will happen in the future?

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© 2021. This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND License

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Currently the COVID-19 outbreak and the associated social and economic restrictions keep the whole world in suspense for nearly a year now. Just recently the German government even claimed it as a century pandemic. While the media is focusing more on the present effects, this presentation strives to illuminate the short and also the long-term consequences of the global pandemic. Thereby the topic gets subdivided into the economic, social as well as the environmental effects. Since there has not been collected enough data to that point of time to offer a comprehensive analysis, we had to assess similar events in history and also establish preliminary hypotheses. In all different areas mentioned above the short-term effects are relatively clear to point out. Due to the omnipresent restrictions global economy has been set on pause. This is causing huge collapses on the international stock markets and is also mirrored in a decreased gross domestic product of all countries that are participating in the free market. To compensate this loss, governments had to take massive debts which have to get repaid over the following decades. Furthermore, Society is suffering under the tense economic situation. Psychological complaints are rising caused by fear of the financial future just as the constant isolation through the continuing lockdown. On the contrary the environment is benefiting from the just named situations and gets time to relief from the constant human pressure on wildlife and the brutal exploitation of resources. However, when we consider the long-term effects the picture is significantly different. The heavy increase in plastic production, especially in the medical sector, will pollute global oceans for centuries. Deforestation due to illegal logging in the amazon rainforest is irreversible. The economy on the other site is, just as mentioned before, is just set on pause and will probably recover as soon as the pandemic is over. Same applies to the social sector.

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If we've raised your interest, just follow our recommendations for further reading 

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If we've raised your interest, just follow our recommendations for further reading 

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-          The Black death:

o Augustyn, A. (2020)   https://www.britannica.com/event/Black-Death
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o   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
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-          Spanish Flu:

o   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu
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o  Wilhelm, K. (2020)
How the Spanish Flu changed Hollywood.
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o von Ondarza, V. (2020)
Lessons from the Spanish Flu
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-                Swine Flu

o   Schmidt, K. (2011)
In den Ärmel niesen und locker bleiben.

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-          Covid 19-Pandemic:

o   Charts by https://de.statista.com/

o   https://taz.de/Archiv-Suche/!5129227&s=H1N1/

o   https://www.sachverstaendigenrat-wirtschaft.de/

o   https://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de/DE/Navigation/Statistiken/Fachstatistiken/Arbeitsuche-Arbeitslosigkeit-Unterbeschaeftigung/Arbeitsuche-Arbeitslosigkeit-Unterbeschaeftigung-Nav.html

o   https://www.ifo.de/

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"I had this feeling of guilt, thinking about people out there that might need it more than me... I felt as though I didn't deserve to be claiming benefits at this age," says 23-year old Rosalyn.

She had been working as a freelance actor, doing shifts front-of-house in a theatre and also working for an events company to make ends meet. But when lockdown hit, shifts dried up.

"I started using my savings to pay my rent, my bills... everything I'd managed to build up over a couple of years was completely gone in two months."

She wasn't eligible to be furloughed at any of the part-time jobs.

In late April, she applied for universal credit for the first time.

Rosalyn is now one of the 344,000 young women who are claiming unemployment benefits. According to BBC analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics, that number more than doubled between March and November - with the second biggest percentage rise among any age group.

Men aged 30-39 saw the largest increase at 117%.

Although there has been a widespread increase in the number of people claiming universal credit or jobseeker's allowance since the start of the pandemic, women under 30 have been particularly hard-hit.

Universal credit, the benefit for people out of work or on a low income, has replaced six others, merging them into one payment. It has proved controversial because it can be difficult to work out what you will receive and it usually takes five weeks from the date of claiming to receiving your first payment.

Rosalyn, for example, received her first payment after nine weeks, due to problems verifying her identity.

After accounting for rent and bills for her London flat-share, she has about £100 left each month.

"I usually get the bus to a cheaper supermarket, and try to make sure my food shop per week is £15 or less.

"Right now, it's enough to pay my rent and bills, but it's not really enough to live," she says. "It's been tough."

One study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies also found that young women are disproportionately likely to work in pubs and restaurants, retail and the arts, which have been worst affected by coronavirus lockdowns.

"If I was allowed to work, this is my busiest time of year where I do actually make good money because of the hours that you have to put in," says 23-year-old Beth.

She quit her university studies in business earlier this year after teaching moved online, and decided to take on more hours at her part-time hospitality job in Newcastle instead.

She considered the job "one of the safest out there". But as pubs, bars and restaurants shut under England's second national lockdown, Beth was placed on furlough for the second time in 2020.

"I knew how much money I'd been earning from last lockdown, and I realised I was in a bit of trouble."

She moved back into the family home to save on expenses and submitted a universal credit claim in October.

Two-thirds of young women claiming benefits this year did so for the very first time, according to recent polling of 4,000 under-30s by the Young Women's Trust charity.

Beth describes the application process as "a bit confusing, because it's something that I've never really had to do".

As the local JobCentre at the end of her road was closed, she wasn't sure who to turn to for help.

Check if you're eligible: You're not likely to be eligible if your household has more than £16,000 in savings, if you're under 18 or in full-time education, but there are some exceptions. It can also affect other benefit payments.

Apply as soon as possible: You have to wait five weeks from the date you apply for your first payment. If you will struggle during this time, you can apply for an advance loan to help.

Get your documents ready: You'll need information on your income, savings, housing situation - like your tenancy agreement - and any childcare costs. You'll also need to submit your bank account details.

Set aside some time: Most people apply for universal credit online, but you can apply by telephone. A typical claim can take 40 minutes to an hour.

Be aware of your claimant commitment: There are sometimes job-seeking requirements for people on Universal Credit, but it depends on your circumstances. Tasks could include writing a CV or setting up job alerts.

Citizens Advice told the BBC it had given more than 31,000 young women advice on universal credit since 23 March.

"Some seven in 10 seeking our support on benefits had never come to us before, showing the scale of this crisis," said the charity's interim chief executive, Alistair Cromwell.

"That includes thousands of young people, many of whom saw their jobs in retail and hospitality vanish practically overnight, but still had to make the rent and pay their bills."

Danielle Owen navigated the system with a bit more ease, thanks to her experience in HR.

The 27-year-old from Swindon was furloughed from her recruitment job at an international company, and was eventually made redundant in July.

"I didn't have a huge amount of savings behind me. Given the current situation, I decided that it was probably best to look into it straight away."

She receives £408 per month in universal credit, which leaves her with £7 spare after paying her mortgage.

She is paying for bills and food using her redundancy pay-out, until she starts in a new role next year - after more than 300 job applications.

But Danielle questioned whether she should put in a claim, although the pandemic gave her little choice: "There is definitely a stigma around claiming benefits.

"I've always worked and the only time I hadn't, I was in education - basically to get the job that I had.

"I was so proud of the career I had built up, and I just had to let that pride go," she says.

Recent research from poverty charity Turn2Us found that the stigma around claiming benefits has become more pronounced.

One in four people surveyed in April said they believed claimants should be ashamed, up from one in 10 of those asked in 2012.

"I've had a lot of friends make comments, telling me that at my age I should be working," says Beth.

"But I never thought I would be in the position where I had to claim benefits. It was the stereotype growing up, and I always wanted to achieve something."

With unemployment set to rise further, growing numbers of young women who are accessing benefits for the first time are likely to continue to feel worried for the future.

"We know people have been impacted in different ways during this pandemic and our 'Plan for Jobs' offers a wide range of support that can be individually tailored," a spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said.

They also pointed towards the Kickstart scheme, which offers work placements to 16-24 year olds on universal credit and at risk of long-term unemployment.

But for those in immediate need, Rosalyn urges them to put aside negative thoughts and comments.

"There comes a point when you have to put yourself first, which is something that women don't always do.

"Put yourself, your shelter and your food first."

If you need help with benefits or other financial issues, visit the Citizens Advice or Turn2Us websites.

This article was updated on 15 December to reflect the most up-to-date claimant count statistics.

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Universal credit: 'I felt guilty claiming benefits for the first time'

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"I had this feeling of guilt, thinking about people out there that might need it more than me... I felt as though I didn't deserve to be claiming benefits at this age," says 23-year old Rosalyn. She had been working as a freelance actor, doing shifts front-of-house in a theatre and also working for an events company to make ends meet.

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Seit Beginn des Lockdowns wurden durch Verordnungen vor allem die Ausgangsbeschränkungen verschärft. Das Verlassen der Wohnung ist nur mit einem Formular möglich, das Begründung, Unterschrift, Datum und Uhrzeit enthalten muss. Die körperliche Betätigung im Freien ist auf eine Stunde pro Tag begrenzt und nur innerhalb eines Kilometers im Umfeld des Wohnorts möglich.

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Pandemics have been seen in many periods throughout history. Pandemics are diseases that cause millions of people to die and have great negative effects on the psychological health of society. It also disrupted the students ' educational process. Pandemics such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Spanish flu which have appeared in the past and threatened the health of people, have also led to negative consequences in people's psychology. Today, people are struggling with a pandemic COVID-19, which was first seen in Wuhan, China. COVID-19, like other pandemics, affected a large number of people in a very short time after it appeared and caused many people to die. The COVID-19 pandemic affects people psychologically because the spread of it still continues, death rates increase day by day, life comes to a halt and its control time is unpredictable. Like the traumatic experiences that have caused many psychological problems on humans throughout history, COVID-19 will have a negative psychological effect on every person. Scientific research on COVID-19 is of great importance in order to prevent the destructiveness of it in social, political, psychological, educational and economic dimensions. After the COVID-19 epidemic has been controlled over time, the psychological effects on people will be clearer. It is estimated that its effect will cause many problems in the short and long term. In this study, the possible psychological effects of COVID-19 on children, youth, elderly people and healthcare staff were discussed in the light of theoretical information. In order to minimize negative psychological effects, some recommendations were presented.

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(PDF) Psychological Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Society and Its Reflections on Education

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Pandemics have been seen in many periods throughout history. Pandemics are diseases that cause millions of people to die and have great negative effects on the psychological health of society. It also disrupted the students ' educational process.

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The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak, which emerged in Wuhan, China, increased significantly in a very short amount of time, so that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Since than global economy and social life got effected heavily due to all kinds of restrictions (transportation, travel, mobility etc.). It's known that the virus itself doesn't have a direct impact on the environment. However, medical and social situations arise that may indirectly affect the environment in a harmful but also beneficial way. The following presentation therefore enumerates the main effects of Covid-19 based on current literature, which got published throughout the year 2020.

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If you look in the past, you will find a lot of examples for pandemics who hit us. But they were never the main reason for an economy crisis. The life was for the longest time of humans under big geographic boundaries. So for diseases it was not easy to spread fast. Also the economy was more regional and not as complex as today. So if life’s where lost they could be replaced.

Today we live in a world with global supply chains and we can travel around the world. That brings big pressure to the health system, because there is no big time before a disease will reach you. Also we depend on free trade and the manufactories around the globe.

The Corona virus showed us these soft points. The GDP felt worldwide and the state dept were growing. Millions of people got unemployed and depend on the welfare state. But the economist and analyst are looking positive in the future. If possible the people will satisfy their needs and the economy will grow again.

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We are facing a global health crisis  that is killing people, spreading human suffering, and upending people’s lives. But this is much more than a health crisis. It is a human, economic and social crisis. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which has been characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), is attacking societies at their core.

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·      Robert, B. (2020). Discarded coronavirus masks clutter Hong Kong’s beaches, trails. Reuters. Published April 20, 2020 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-hongkong-environmeidUSKBN20Z0PP
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·      Zhou, L., Li, F., Wu, S., & Zhou, M. (2020). “School’s out, but class’s on”, the largest online education in the World Today: Taking China’s practical exploration during the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control as an example. Best Evidence of Chinese Education, 4(2), 501–519. https://doi.org/10.15354/ bece.20.ar023.
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·      Ana L. Patrício Silva, Joana C. Prata, Tony R. Walker, Armando C. Duarte, Wei Ouyang, Damià Barcelò, Teresa Rocha-Santos (2020). Increased plastic pollution due to COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and recommendations, Chemical Engineering Journal, Volume 405, 2021, 126683, ISSN 1385-8947
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·      RENEE CHO (2020). COVID-19’s Long-Term Effects on Climate Change—For Better or Worse, State of the planet-Earth Institute-Columbia University, June 25, 2020. https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/06/25/covid-19-impacts-climate-change/Impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on biodiversity conservation
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·      Richard T. Corlett, Richard B. Primack, Vincent Devictor, Bea Maas, Varun R. Goswami, Amanda E. Bates, Lian Pin Koh, Tracey J. Regan, Rafael Loyola, Robin J. Pakeman, Graeme S. Cumming, Anna Pidgeon, David Johns, Robin Roth (2020). Impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on biodiversity conservation, Biol Conserv. 2020 Jun; 246: 108571. Published online 2020 Apr 8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7139249/
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ifo Institut – Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung an der Universität München e.V.

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Corona und die wundersame Geldvermehrung in Europa

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or students returning to university, this year will be very different to the last. And for those only beginning, the pandemic has taken away many of the freedoms they should have welcomed when they left home.

But despite local lockdowns of some universities, and bans on parties in others, there is one constant - the struggle to stick to a budget.

A recent survey from the advice site Save the Student put the average monthly cost of going to university at just under £800 - most of that being spent on rent. With part-time jobs thinner on the ground due to coronavirus, many students will need to be especially prudent.

There is help at hand - sites such as Save The Student, UNiDAYS and Student Beans all point out deals that can be found from brands, attractions and services which are eager to get business from both freshers and those returning to college.

So in these extraordinary times, what are the best ways to save during term time?
Choose the right account
Banks are ready to throw any number of perks at students in order to get their business, in the hope that they will continue to bank with them once they leave university. Cashback, awards schemes, free Amazon Prime student membership, free railcards and TOTUM student discount cards are all on offer depending on which bank you go with.

For many, however, the main attraction will be the interest-free overdraft. Both Halifax and Santander offer the most, with up to £1,500 from the start of year one. The other main banks offer similar, if slightly different, amounts - Barclays, Nationwide and HSBC give up to £1,000 while at Bank of Scotland and Lloyds it is £500 in the first six months then £1,000 in months seven to nine.

"It is worth noting that overdrafts are not guaranteed, and they will need to be paid back once a consumer ends their studies," says Rachel Springall of financial data site Moneyfacts. "It may be tempting to dip into a generous interest-free overdraft, but students would be wise to consider taking on a part-time job and perhaps thinking of ways to save some cash."

On the main student accounts, Bank of Scotland offers a free TOTUM card worth £25 for three years while its parent, Lloyds, has the same promotion. NatWest gives an Amazon Prime student subscription or a National Express Coachcard or a Tastecard worth £35 - while its stablemate, Royal Bank of Scotland, offers the same. Barclays' offer is a free 12-month subscription to online library Perlego. At Halifax there's up to 15% in cashback from certain retailers, and at Santander it is a free railcard. HSBC, meanwhile, offers preferential savings rates. All offer interest-free overdrafts for amounts ranging from £500 to £3,000 depending on what year the student is in.
Making a smart laptop choice
It's likely that a laptop will be one of the biggest outlays in the first year of university and which one to buy is very much dependent on what the demands of the course are. Some subjects will not need the same level of investment in software as an engineering or computer science degree, for example.

The best cheapest laptops are Chromebooks, which are great if you can do what you need using web applications such as Google Docs. The Lenovo IdeaPad 3i Chromebook 14 is one of the cheapest from £249. It has a fairly average 14-inch screen, reasonable performance with an Intel Celeron N4020 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The keyboard and trackpad are reasonable, too.

There are significant discounts, depending on the seller, which should ease the impact on your wallet. These can vary depending on product and university. Apple gives discounts of between 5% and 10% and also free AirPods right now. Microsoft has a 10% general discount for students on both hardware and software. It also offers free Office 365 Education (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Teams).

There are many more discounts on subscription services available - searching sites like UNiDAYS and Student Beans will turn up a few. Spotify, for one, gives half price on its premium service - at £4.99.
Ensuring books don't break that bank
Again, depending on the course, buying books can be a heavy burden on your bank account. There are time-honoured ways to reduce the bill - by using the library or buying in second-hand shops close to the university.

Amazon offers a six-month free trial of its Prime Student service - similar to the standard Prime with free delivery, access to videos and photo storage amongst other features. Students get 10% off what the retailer says are thousands of books, with dictionaries and physiology books amongst the most popular. After the six months, the price goes to £3.99 a month with students able to sign up with their .ac.uk email address.

Waterstones gives 5% off via its plus student scheme. With the Waterstones plus card, which you can apply for online, students can earn one stamp with every £10 spent and then get £10 credit after 10 stamps. Academic book retailer Blackwell's has a student price-match guarantee for any books found in Amazon, Waterstones or WHSmith. Audible, the online audiobook service owned by Amazon, has a 50% discount on a three-month membership via Student Beans.

Other options are to use Google Scholar, which has articles, theses, books and abstracts from academics. Online trading of academic texts is possible through sites such as BookMooch and BookCrossing, where you can search for the texts that you are looking for.
Looking for cheap entertainment
Getting away from the books is key, but it doesn't always have to be two-for-one deals in the local. Museums, too, are keen to attract students.

The free Tate Collective gives access to £5 exhibition tickets for those aged 16 to 25, with 20% off in its cafes as well. The V&A has a membership scheme for £45 (normally £75) for those under 26 which gives free entry to all exhibitions, amongst other perks. The British Museum has a similar scheme at £44. The £5 student art pass from the Art Fund gives free or reduced-price entry to hundreds of museums, galleries and historic houses.

Student discounts are available in many cinemas meanwhile but using the TOTUM card in Odeon cinemas will give an additional 25% from Monday to Thursday. Another well-known trick is to sign up for MeerKat Movies, Compare the Market's two-for-one ticket promotion, by buying the cheapest insurance available. Or take out student contents insurance, which will cover for damage or theft of belongings from accommodation and costs about £70.

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Student finance: stick to a budget amid the Covid crisis

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or students returning to university, this year will be very different to the last. And for those only beginning, the pandemic has taken away many of the freedoms they should have welcomed when they left home. But despite local lockdowns of some universities, and bans on parties in others, there is one constant - the struggle to stick to a budget.

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Venezuela's doctors say health systems unprepared for COVID-19

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Evidence points to COVID-19 being a zoonotic disease - i.e. one that jumped from animals to humans. The emergence of such zoonotic pathogens is linked to environmental degradation and related human interaction with animals in the food system.

About 60 % of human infectious diseases are of animal origin (Woolhouse and Gowtage-Sequeria, 2005), while three quarters of new and emerging infectious diseases are transmitted to humans from animals (Woolhouse et al., 2001). These include viruses responsible for significant global mortality, such as: the human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) HIV-1 and HIV-2 that cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) that emerged from wild primate populations; the Rift Valley fever virus that jumped from infected livestock to humans and influenza viruses such as bird flu and swine flu that were also transmitted from domestic animals and birds to humans.

Novel viruses have emerged from intensive systems of domestic livestock rearing. The intensive production of animal protein involves rearing concentrated populations of genetically similar animals in close proximity, often in poor conditions, fostering vulnerability to infection (UNEP, 2020). More than 50 % of zoonotic infectious diseases that have emerged since 1940 have been associated with measures to intensify agriculture (Rohr et al., 2019).

Beyond the causes of COVID-19, in many countries, the period of lockdown has given us a glimpse of how animal and plant species react to less human disturbance, in both rural and urban settings. During the Europe-wide lockdown, many anecdotal stories appeared concerning the changing behaviour of wildlife. Since the 1970s, there have been numerous studies on the impact of human disturbance on wildlife, in particular on breeding birds. Less disturbance in both urban and remote areas (less recreational tourism) gives ecosystems and habitats a chance to recover and provides new spaces and niches for species to occupy. New research is looking into how urban nature areas increase the resilience of cities, maintaining well-being in urban populations whilst also enabling social distancing. Maintaining or expanding space for nature in cities should increasingly become part of the sustainability agenda.

Greenhouse gas emissions: short-term benefits and lessons for the future

In addition to affecting people's lives, the COVID crisis is having a direct impact on energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at both global and EU levels. The European Commission's forecast for the year 2020 estimates a 7.6 % contraction in GDP for the EU as a whole. Due to the effect of COVID-19 on the economy, in 2020, we can expect an unparalleled reduction in GHG emissions in the EU compared to 2019. We will only be able to fully quantify its magnitude after 2020.

The transport sector, a key source of GHG, is particularly affected by the crisis. The demand for passenger transport has declined as a result of international travel restrictions and reduced commuting, tourism and business travel. The International Road Transport Union (IRU) expects a 57 % decline in turnover from road passenger transport activity in Europe for 2020 compared to the previous year. For air transport, figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) show a 65.2 % drop in air passenger kilometres in Europe for the year-to-date ending July compared to the same period in 2019. These figures point to a significant decline in GHG emissions from transport in 2020.

According to initial evaluations from the International Energy Agency (IEA), global energy demand in 2020 could fall by around 6 %. Therefore, the strong contraction in GDP and energy use might play a role in the EU achieving its 20 % renewable energy target and its objective to improve energy efficiency by 20 % in 2020, in addition to the effects of policies dedicated to reaching these objectives.

While the short-term reductions in energy use and emissions may make 2020 targets achievable, any longer-term goals will require political decisions that prioritise recovery measures which contribute significantly to climate change mitigation. Clearly, the transition of the energy and mobility systems must accelerate if we are to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

Air quality, noise and (un)healthy environments

One of the most evident short-term effects of COVID-19 lockdowns has been the dramatic improvement in air quality, especially in some of the world's most polluted cities. Although air quality levels appear to be returning to near-pre-lockdown levels in many parts of the world as stricter lockdown measures are lifted, this period has revealed some of the benefits that could be achieved from a lasting and sustainable reduction in air pollution.

The EEA's Air quality and COVID-19 viewer tracks average weekly and monthly concentrations of nitrogen dioxide ( NO 2 ) and particulate matter (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ). Data show how concentrations of NO ₂ - a pollutant mainly emitted by road transport - fell sharply in many European countries where lockdown measures were implemented in the spring of 2020.

Figure 1. Effect of COVID lockdown measures on air quality
Comparison between expected and actual NO 2 concentrations (selected countries, April 2020)

Source: EEA forthcoming report - Air quality in Europe - 2020

Concentrations of PM 10 also fell across Europe in this period, but decreases were less pronounced. Whereas NO 2 emissions are largely attributable to road transport, PM concentrations are influenced by emissions from natural sources as well as man-made sources such as residential heating, agriculture and industry, which are less likely to have been affected by lockdown restrictions.

Figure 2. Effect of COVID lockdown measures on air quality
Comparison between expected and actual PM 10 concentrations (selected countries, April 2020)

Source: EEA forthcoming report - Air quality in Europe - 2020

The extent of reductions varied considerably, with the largest reductions of up to 70 % seen in urban centres in those countries most affected by COVID-19 at that time, such as Milan and Madrid. Other cities, such as Athens which was less affected by the COVID first wave and saw economic activity returning sooner, experienced sharp initial declines in NO ₂, followed by a return to pre-lockdown levels.

Figure 3. Weekly average NO2 concentrations, selected cities

Researchers are exploring the role air pollution may play in influencing the severity of COVID-19. Exposure to air pollution is associated with cardiovascular and respiratory disease, both pre-existing health conditions identified as risk factors for death in COVID-19 patients (Yang et al., 2020). As such, long-term exposure to air pollution might be expected to increase humans' susceptibility to COVID-19, with previous studies having demonstrated, for example, exposure to particulate matter (PM) as having a role in worsening the impact of respiratory viruses (Sciomer et al., 2020). Recent studies have explored the evidence for links between air pollution and high mortality rates for COVID-19. An Italian study argued that since long-term exposure to air pollution, including PM, ozone (O 3 ) and sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), weakens the immune defences of the upper airways, this would facilitate entry of the SARS-CoV-2 into the lower airways resulting in infection with COVID-19 (Conticini et al., 2020). However, as there are a number of significant limitations within these early studies, findings must be interpreted with care.

Another public health question currently being researched is whether PM can transport the virus. In Italy, genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus was detected on PM samples taken from the city of Bergamo in northern Italy (Setti et al., 2020). While there are concerns that air pollution could carry the virus over longer distances and drive infection, at this stage, it is not known whether the virus remains viable on pollution particles. Again, further research is required.

Meanwhile, chemical exposure has been indirectly linked to vulnerability to COVID-19. Certain chemicals are associated with health impacts, such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, immunotoxicity and respiratory diseases which, in turn, have been found to increase susceptibility to COVID-19. In this context, a recent study has suggested that long-term, low-dose exposure to mixtures of chemicals may lead to immunodeficiency in the face of epidemics and pandemics (Tsatsakis et al., 2020).

It is likely that there has been a significant drop in noise levels during the COVID-19 lockdown, as noise pollution from traffic is typically correlated with NO 2 levels.

While we have grown accustomed to unhealthy noise levels in cities, the short-term reduction during lockdown allowed people to experience the immediate benefits of quieter cities. Several sources have also documented a dramatic fall in ground vibrations generated by human activity, such as road traffic and industrial activities, across the EU.

Environmental noise levels are reported over a prolonged period of time, as health effects appear when exposure is long term. It is safe to say that a reduction in noise levels over a few months would not significantly reduce the annual noise-level indicator used to measure the effects of noise, unless societal responses to COVID-19 result in longer-term reductions in traffic levels, air transport and other noise-producing activities.

Plastics, waste and recycling

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes in the production and consumption of plastics, and in plastic waste. T e pandemic led to a sudden surge in global demand for personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks, gloves, gowns, bottled hand sanitiser, etc. During early efforts to stop the spread of the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that, each month, 89 million medical masks were required globally, together with 76 million examination gloves and 1.6 million sets of goggles.

As a result of lockdown measures across most of Europe, coupled with stringent hygiene requirements, COVID-19 has had a significant effect on the consumption of single-use plastic packaging and products.

Since most restaurants in Europe were closed for on-site dining, many moved to offering take away and delivery services using single - use plastic containers. Several large coffee retailers stopped allowing customers to bring refillable containers, using disposable cups in their place. Meanwhile, online shopping outlets have seen a surge in demand, with many products packed in single-use plastic.

While disposable plastic products have played an important role in preventing the spread of COVID-19, in the shorter term, the upsurge in demand for these items may challenge EU efforts to curb plastic pollution and move towards a more sustainable and circular plastics system. The production, consumption and disposal of additional single-use plastics will have had a greater impact on the environment and climate, such as increased air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, waste generation and risk of littering.

In addition to the direct effects stemming from increased demand for single-use plastics, other factors related to the pandemic should also be noted. Reduced economic activity has seen sharp falls in global oil prices. In turn, this has made it significantly cheaper for manufacturers to produce plastic goods from virgin, fossil-based materials rather than using recycled plastic materials. The economic viability of the European and global plastics recycling market is presently under significant pressure. Lower market demand for recycled plastics has also complicated the efforts of many of Europe's local municipalities to manage their waste practices sustainably, with less desirable waste-disposal methods now being required for significant quantities of plastic waste.

Social inequalities in the spotlight

It has become clear that COVID is not affecting all socio-economic groups equally. Several factors may have increased the vulnerability of those with low socio-economic status.

Less-well-off people are more likely to live in poor quality, overcrowded accommodation, jeopardising compliance with social distancing recommendations and increasing the risk of transmitting infection. They are also more likely to have jobs that cannot be carried out from home, such as working in healthcare, care homes, supermarkets, factories, warehouses and public transport. In addition, people with lower socio-economic status are more likely to endure unstable work conditions and to face financial uncertainty due to the economic impacts of the response to COVID-19. Such individuals are under significant pressure to continue working even when they fall ill, in order to safeguard household incomes.

Beyond the higher risk of transmission under such conditions, sustained stress also weakens the immune system, increasing susceptibility to a range of diseases (Patel et al., 2020). Finally, poorer people in urban areas are likely to be exposed to higher levels of air pollution and noise, associated with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and hypertension, respectively (EEA, 2019). These conditions are all risk factors for death from COVID-19 (Yang et al., 2020), suggesting that people of low socio-economic status have greater susceptibility to COVID-19 mortality (Patel et al., 2020).

Conclusions

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold across Europe, with changing levels of restrictions and more focus on testing and social distancing. Although some economic activity has returned since the European lockdowns of spring 2020, economies continue to be hit by COVID-related restrictions. As governments try to plot courses out of the pandemic, with a particular reliance on significant stimulus packages, a focus on reshaping our unsustainable production and consumption systems is vital. The pandemic is highlighting, yet again, the interconnected nature of our planetary systems, from the zoonotic origins of disease and their relation to our natural environment and food systems, to the greater vulnerability to disease resulting from social inequality, poor air quality, pollution and other environmental factors.

Sources

In order to present a full and contextualised snapshot of these rapidly developing scenarios, we rely on a variety of external sources, as well as the valuable work of the European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet). More COVID-related research studies from Eionet and other EEA partners can be found here: https://www.eea.europa.eu/post-corona-planet/explore/#search-the-database

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COVID-19 and Europe's environment: impacts of a global pandemic

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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on people's lives worldwide. This briefing focuses on what we know about the short-term effects of COVID-19 on our environment, approximately six months after large parts of the world went into some degree of lockdown.

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Temporary reduction in daily global CO₂ emissions during the COVID-19 forced confinement

Corinne Le Quéré, Robert B. Jackson, Matthew W. Jones, Adam J. P. Smith, Sam Abernethy, Robbie M. Andrew, Anthony J. De-Gol, David R. Willis, Yuli Shan, Josep G. Canadell, Pierre Friedlingstein, Felix Creutzig and Glen P. Peters

Nature Climate Change, Published 18 May 2020
DOI:10.1038/s41558-020-0797-x

Paper Abstract

Government policies during the COVID-19 pandemic have drastically altered patterns of energy demand around the world. Many international borders were closed and populations were confined to their homes, which reduced transport and changed consumption patterns. Here we compile government policies and activity data to estimate the decrease in CO ₂ emissions during forced confinements. Daily global CO ₂ emissions decreased by –17% (–11 to –25% for ±1σ) by early April 2020 compared with the mean 2019 levels, just under half from changes in surface transport. At their peak, emissions in individual countries decreased by –26% on average. The impact on 2020 annual emissions depends on the duration of the confinement, with a low estimate of –4% (–2 to –7%) if prepandemic conditions return by mid-June, and a high estimate of –7% (–3 to –13%) if some restrictions remain worldwide until the end of 2020. Government actions and economic incentives postcrisis will likely influence the global CO ₂ emissions path for decades.

Manuscript

Access paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0797-x

Access Additional Global and National Figures: https://mattwjones.co.uk/covid-19

Data

Access supplementary data: https://www.icos-cp.eu/gcp-covid19

Webinar

Carbon Brief webinar: What impact is Covid-19 having on global emissions?

Images and Multimedia

Press Releases

Blogs

The Conversation: Coronavirus is a 'sliding doors' moment for humanity. What we do now could change Earth's trajectory.

The Conversation (in Spanish): El coronavirus, un punto de no retorno: lo que hagamos ahora puede cambiar el rumbo del planeta.

The Conversation (in French): Covid et baisse des émissions de CO₂: une nouvelle étude fait le point secteur par secteur.

Scientific American: COVID-19 Could Permanently Transform Transportation.

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temporary reduction in daily global co2 emissions during the covid-19 forced confinement

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News: Temporary reduction in daily global CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 forced confinement

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Corinne Le Quéré, Robert B. Jackson, Matthew W. Jones, Adam J. P. Smith, Sam Abernethy, Robbie M. Andrew, Anthony J. De-Gol, David R. Willis, Yuli Shan, Josep G. Canadell, Pierre Friedlingstein, Felix Creutzig and Glen P. Peters Nature Climate Change, Published 18 May 2020 DOI:10.1038/s41558-020-0797-x Government policies during the COVID-19 pandemic have drastically altered patterns of energy demand around the world.

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Nathan Wolfe: The jungle search for viruses

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Virus hunter Nathan Wolfe is outwitting the next pandemic by staying two steps ahead: discovering deadly new viruses where they first emerge -- passing from animals to humans among poor subsistence hunters in Africa -- before they claim millions of lives.

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The Global Carbon Project (GCP) was established in 2001 in recognition of the enormous scientific challenge and fundamentally critical nature of the issue for Earth sustainability.

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HONG KONG (Reuters) - Discarded face masks are piling up on Hong Kong's beaches and nature trails, with environmental groups warning that the waste is posing a huge threat to marine life and wildlife habitats.

Most of Hong Kong's 7.4 million people have for weeks been putting on single-use face masks every day in the hope of warding off the coronavirus, which has infected 126 people in the city and killed three of them.

But huge numbers of the masks are not disposed of properly, and have instead ended up dumped in the countryside or the sea, where marine life can mistake them for food, washing up on beaches along with the usual plastic bags and other trash.

Environmental groups, already grappling with the flow of marine trash from mainland China and elsewhere, say the cast-off coronavirus masks have compounded the problem and also raised concern about the spread of germs.

"We only have had masks for the last six to eight weeks, in a massive volume ... we are now seeing the effect on the environment," said Gary Stokes, founder of the environmental group Oceans Asia.

Stokes cited the example of Hong Kong's isolated and uninhabited Soko islands, south of its international airport.

He said he initially found 70 discarded masks on 100 m stretch of beach and when he came back a week later, there were more than 30 new ones.

"That was quite alarming for us," he said.

Other beaches around the city tell a similar story, he said.

Densely populated Hong Kong has for years struggled to deal with plastic waste. A culture of eating out, fast food and takeaway has fueled a rising tide of single-use plastic.

Very little rubbish is recycled with about 70 percent of the city's 6 million tonnes of waste a year ending up in landfill.

"Nobody wants to go to the forest and find masks littered everywhere or used masks on the beaches. It is unhygienic and dangerous," said Laurence McCook, head of Oceans Conservation at the World Wildlife Fund in Hong Kong.

Conservation groups have been organizing beach clean-ups to tackle the trash.

The masks are made of polypropylene, a type of plastic, and are not going to break down quickly, said Tracey Read, founder of the group Plastic Free Seas in Hong Kong.

"People think they're protecting themselves but it's not just about protecting yourselves, you need to protect everybody and by not throwing away the mask properly, it's very selfish."

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Discarded coronavirus masks clutter Hong Kong's beaches, trails

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HONG KONG (Reuters) - Discarded face masks are piling up on Hong Kong's beaches and nature trails, with environmental groups warning that the waste is posing a huge threat to marine life and wildlife habitats.