Hello everyone! My name is Joy, and I am a final-year Environmental Studies student. For my GE4237 Environmental Pollution class, I will be blogging about the changes in environmental pollution during this COVID-19 pandemic.

In December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia cases was reported in Wuhan, China (She et al., 2020). The situation quickly worsened. By 23 January 2020, Wuhan was in lockdown. The virus spread rapidly and over the course of the year, many countries fluctuated between lockdown situations and the slow reopening of their borders.

At the start of 2020, I was excited for the year ahead – turning 21 years old, my overseas student exchange programme, and many more exciting events. Then, COVID-19 struck. Although there have been several approved vaccines since December 2020 (Taylor, 2021), resulting in many people getting vaccinated against the virus, it continues to mutate and plague the world. Fast forward to 2022, the world continues to battle this ever-changing virus. For many people, including me, it feels as if the pandemic has robbed us of precious time during the past 3 years.

Why COVID-19?

The pandemic might not be over, but it has definitely progressed greatly over the past three years. As society slowly begins to accept the presence of this virus in our lives and live with the current restrictions as the new normal, I believe that it is a good time to review the changes in environmental pollution, both positive and negative, over the past three years due to COVID-19. In addition, environmental pollution is one of the lesser-known aspects of this pandemic. While it is undeniable that COVID-19 has brought about devastating social and economic impacts, I believe that more light can be shed on the environmental aspect of the pandemic.

In the upcoming weeks, I hope to explore how pollution has changed in the different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, from its peak in 2020 to now, and the reasons behind these changes.

That’s all folks, till next time!

References