The Science of the total environment
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Sci. Total Environ. · Jan 2021
Toilets dominate environmental detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in a hospital.
Respiratory and fecal aerosols play confirmed and suspected roles, respectively, in transmitting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). An extensive environmental sampling campaign of both toilet and non-toilet environments was performed in a dedicated hospital building for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the associated environmental factors were analyzed. In total, 107 surface samples, 46 air samples, two exhaled condensate samples, and two expired air samples were collected within and beyond four three-bed isolation rooms. ⋯ Of the 46 air samples, one collected from a corridor was weakly positive. The two exhaled condensate samples and the two expired air samples were negative. The fecal-derived aerosols in patients' toilets contained most of the detected SARS-CoV-2 in the hospital, highlighting the importance of surface and hand hygiene for intervention.
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Sci. Total Environ. · Jan 2021
A systematic method for assessing progress of achieving sustainable development goals: A case study of 15 countries.
17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) were committed by 193 countries in 2015. Assessing the spatio-temporal progress of achieving the SDGs can help to track the global sustainable development progress and identify critical development issues to eventually accelerate the achievement of SDGs. However, there is a lack of methods for the quantitative assessment of the progress of achieving SDGs at the regional level (above the national level), especially systematic methods that can simultaneously assess regions along the "Belt and Road". ⋯ To implement this methodological framework, we chose 15 countries along the "Belt and Road" as the case study, and used 108 indicators to assess the performance of achieving SDGs for these countries. Eventually, various national development models and related policy recommendations were proposed. The three indices included in the methodological framework developed in this study can effectively enhance the global stakeholders' mutual understanding of the progress of achieving SDGs to support regional coordinated planning and national-level strategic decision-making.
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Sci. Total Environ. · Jan 2021
ReviewUnlocking the surge in demand for personal and protective equipment (PPE) and improvised face coverings arising from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic - Implications for efficacy, re-use and sustainable waste management.
Currently, there is no effective vaccine for tackling the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 with the occurrence of repeat waves of infection frequently stretching hospital resources beyond capacity. Disease countermeasures rely upon preventing person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV2 so as to protect front-line healthcare workers (HCWs). COVID-19 brings enormous challenges in terms of sustaining the supply chain for single-use-plastic personal and protective equipment (PPE). ⋯ Use of 60 °C for 60 min (such as, use of domestic washing machine and spin dryer) has been advocated for face covering decontamination. Risk of virus infiltration in improvised face coverings is potentially increased by duration of wearing due to humidity, liquid diffusion and virus retention. Future sustained use of PPE will be influenced by the availability of recyclable PPE and by innovative biomedical waste management.
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Sci. Total Environ. · Jan 2021
Sunlight ultraviolet radiation dose is negatively correlated with the percent positive of SARS-CoV-2 and four other common human coronaviruses in the U.S.
Human coronaviruses are RNA viruses that are sensitive to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Sunlight contains UVA (320-400 nm), UVB (260-320 nm) and UVC (200-260 nm) action spectra. UVC can inactivate coronaviruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). ⋯ The weekly percent positive of SARS-CoV-2 during April 17, 2020 to July 10, 2020 showed a significant negative correlation with the sunlight UV radiation dose in census regions 1 and 2 of the U. S. while no statistical significance in the other regions. Additionally, sunlight UV radiation also showed some negative effects with respect to the early SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
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Sci. Total Environ. · Jan 2021
Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in raw and treated wastewater in Germany - Suitability for COVID-19 surveillance and potential transmission risks.
Wastewater-based monitoring of the spread of the new SARS-CoV-2 virus, also referred to as wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), has been suggested as a tool to support epidemiology. An extensive sampling campaign, including nine municipal wastewater treatment plants, has been conducted in different cities of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) on the same day in April 2020, close to the first peak of the corona crisis. Samples were processed and analysed for a set of SARS-CoV-2-specific genes, as well as pan-genotypic gene sequences also covering other coronavirus types, using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). ⋯ The infectivity of the raw wastewater has also been assessed by viral outgrowth assay with a potential SARS-CoV-2 host cell line in vitro, which were not infected when exposed to the samples. This first evidence suggests that wastewater might be no major route for transmission to humans. Our findings draw attention to the need for further methodological and molecular assay validation for enveloped viruses in wastewater.