The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019 has led to many changes such as reduced human activities and effects on the environment. There is no big picture of the effects of pandemics on the environment using related evidence.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on environmental health.

A systematic search of English language studies was performed in major electronic databases; Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google scholar web search engine from December 2019 to February 2022. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standard guidelines were used to follow up the review process. finally 58 articles entered the review procedure.

The results of indicate a significant reduction of air pollutants and improved air quality. It improved the water quality of some rivers, canals, and seas during the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. The effects of this disease on the environment cannot be fully described yet.

In the short term, the amount of air, water, and coastal pollution has been reduced. few studies have examined the effects of pandemics on the environment in the long run, which paves the way for more researches.

The aim of this study was to look at a cohort of adolescents who were already enrolled in a randomized controlled trial to see (1) how demographics were associated with hurricane impact, and (2) how hurricane impact was associated with reported asthma quality of life.

One hundred fifty-one adolescents ages 11-17 and their parents enrolled in a randomized controlled trial at 2 sites in southeastern North Carolina completed questions about asthma quality of life, demographics, and the impact of Hurricane Matthew.

The most common effects of Hurricane Matthew were that the family’s home was damaged or flooded (32.5%), the school was damaged or flooded (31.8%), and the home had mold or mildew as a result of flooding or damage (25.8%). Problems with access to care were more common for families whose adolescent was non-White (P = 0.04), on Medicaid (P = 0.05), or if the family spoke Spanish at home (P < 0.001). Being affected by the hurricane was negatively associated with asthma quality of life.

Hurricane Matthew had significant impact on the health of adolescents with asthma in the affected region, especially in the most vulnerable populations. Providers should ensure that families of adolescents with asthma have a hurricane plan to mitigate impact on their children’s health.

The ongoing Russian–Ukrainian war has been linked to mental health problems in the Ukrainian general population. To date, however, scarce research has examined the mental health of psychosocial support workers (PSWs) in Ukraine who have a burdensome workload in the context of ongoing conflict. This study aimed to examine the prevalence and correlates of burnout, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidal ideation (SI) in PSWs in Ukraine during the Russian–Ukrainian war.

One hundred seventy-eight PSWs in Ukraine completed a survey assessing war exposure, mental health, and psychosocial characteristics.

A total 59.6% of PSWs screened positive for burnout, 38.2% for PTSD, and 10.7% for current SI. Lower optimism was associated with greater odds of burnout. Greater distress from witnessing war-related destruction, lower optimism, lower presence of meaning in life, and lower levels of close social relationships were associated with greater odds of burnout. Lower presence of meaning in life was associated with greater odds of SI.

Results of this study highlight the mental health challenges faced by PSWs in Ukraine during the ongoing Russian–Ukrainian war. They further suggest that interventions to foster meaning in life and promote social connectedness may “help the helpers” during this ongoing conflict.

This study was conducted to assess the feasibility of extended use of N95 masks in our hospital during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We also studied the use pattern, user satisfaction, and issues faced during extended use of the mask.

This cross-sectional study was conducted among health-care providers in a large tertiary care teaching hospital in northern India from April 1 to May 31, 2020. A list was prepared from the institute’s register, and participants were chosen by random sampling. The data collected from the physical forms were transferred to excel sheets.

A total of 1121 responses were received. The most common problem stated with reuse of N95 masks was loss of fit followed by damage to the slings, highlighted by 44.6% and 44.4% of the participants, respectively. A total of 476 (42.5%) participants responded that they would prefer “cup-shaped N95 mask with respirator”. The median scores regarding the satisfaction with the quality of masks and their fit was also 4 each.

It was concluded that the extended use of N95 masks was acceptable, with more than 96% of the participants using these masks.

The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused tremendous challenges to the medical system. The government and hospitals have taken robust measures to curb the spread of the deadly virus. Its impact on routine medical services is gradually being taken seriously.

To identify the impact of the novel Coronavirus pandemic on emergency department (ED) patient flow and the performance of the routine ED service.

This retrospective cohort study was undertaken in a tertiary public teaching hospital ED in Chengdu, China. ED data of patients were routinely collected to compare demographic, clinical characteristics and outcomes during an 8-week period from January 1, 2019 to February 25, 2020. Data were analyzed with the chi-square statistical test.

Over the study periods, there were 31855 and 25244 patients presented to the ED in 2019 and 2020 respectively. During the pandemic period in 2020, the daily number of average ED visits was lower than that in 2019 (430 ± 134.9 versus 572 ± 38.6, P = 0.00), with fewer triage 1&2 cases (145 ± 33.3 versus 178 ± 15.0, P = 0.00). Nevertheless, the mortality increased remarkably during the pandemic period in 2020 (0.2% versus 0.1%, P = 0.009), with higher APACHE II scores (28 versus 19, P = 0.022) and shorter ED elapsed time (0.2 versus 1.4 days, P = 0.016) among these death cases.

The COVID-19 pandemic had an evident impact on the patient’s behavioral patterns and routine emergency services, which caused higher ED mortality.

The purpose of this research was a pilot examination to identify and assess relationships among social vulnerability, personal resilience, and preparedness for a sample of US residents living in the Gulf South, who had experienced climate-related disaster (e.g., hurricanes) and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Binary logistic regression was conducted using primary survey data collected in 2020 (n = 744) to identify statistically significant explanatory variables of sociodemographic characteristics and resilience, measured by the CD-RISC 10, of climate-related disaster, and pandemic preparedness.

Results indicate that respondents who identified as white, had more education, were in a relationship, and spoke English as a first language, as well as respondents who had exhibited greater resilience, were more likely to prepare for a climate-related disaster. Respondents who spoke English as a first language, had more education, and greater resilience were found to be statistically significant explanatory variables of pandemic preparedness. Respondents who prepared for disaster were also more likely to prepare for the pandemic.

These findings provide insights into protective factors related to preparedness, including linkages between resilience and preparedness that can aid public health professionals in supporting resilience and preparedness efforts for impacted communities.

This study aimed to carry out the validity and reliability study for the adaptation of the Competencies for Disaster Nursing Management Questionnaire (CDNMQ), which was developed by Al Thobaity and others in 2016, (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26778698/) to Turkish, and to be able to use in the nursing literature.

This study was conducted in a methodological approach. The scale used in this study was a 10-point Likert scale with 43 items and 3 subfactors. The questionnaire was applied to 450 nurses. The validity and reliability of the scale were evaluated using the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The content validity index was measured within the scope of the internal consistency measurements, and the Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient was examined for the test-retest.

The content validity index score was found to be 0.98. As a result of the confirmatory factor analysis of the CDNMQ, it was found that the 3-factor structure of the scale was valid and the goodness of fit tests was appropriate.

The findings have shown that the CDNMQ study is similar to the original scale and an adequate measurement tool in determining competencies in disaster nursing management.

The purpose of the research was to investigate and identify the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution in Dhaka, Bangladesh by using ground-based observation data.

The research assessed air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic for PM2.5 from January 1, 2017 to August 1, 2020. The research considered pollution in pre-COVID-19 (January 1 to March 23), during COVID-19 (March 24 to May 30), and post-COVID-19 (May 31 to August 1) lockdown periods with current (2020) and historical (2017-2019) data.

PM2.5 pollution followed a similar yearly trend in year 2017-2020. The average concentration for PM2.5 was found 87.47 μg/m 3 in the study period. Significant PM2.5 declines were observed in the current COVID-19 lockdown period compared with historical data: 11.31% reduction with an absolute decrease of 7.15 μg/m 3.

The findings of the research provide an overview of how the COVID-19 pandemic affects air pollution. The results will provide initial evidence regarding human behavioral changes and emission controls. This research will also suggest avenues for further study to link the findings with health outcomes.

Triage is a tool used to determine patients’ severity of illness or injury within minutes of arrival. This study aims to assess the reliability and validity of a new computer-based triage decision support tool, ANKUTRIAGE, prospectively.

ANKUTRIAGE, a 5-level triage tool was established considering 2 major factors, patient’s vital signs and characteristics of the admission complaint. Adult patients admitted to the ED between July and October, 2019 were consecutively and independently double triaged by 2 assessors using ANKUTRIAGE system. To measure inter-rater reliability, quadratic-weighted kappa coefficients (Kw) were calculated. For the validity, associations among urgency levels, resource use, and clinical outcomes were evaluated.

The inter-rater reliability between users of ANKUTRIAGE was excellent with an agreement coefficient (Kw) greater than 0.8 in all compared groups. In the validity phase, hospitalization rate, intensive care unit admission and mortality rate decreased from level 1 to 5. Likewise, according to the urgency levels, resource use decreased significantly as the triage level decreased (P < 0.05).

ANKUTRIAGE proved to be a valid and reliable tool in the emergency department. The results showed that displaying the key discriminator for each complaint to assist decision leads to a high inter-rater agreement with good correlation between urgency levels and clinical outcomes, as well as between urgency levels and resource consumptions.

An earthquake followed by tsunami and liquefaction on September 28, 2018, in Central Sulawesi caused health system disruptions. This study aimed to know health system disruption at the primary health center (PHC) level due to the disaster in 3 districts (Palu, Sigi, Donggala) of Central Sulawesi.

This was a qualitative study conducted in March 2019 involving 36 PHCs. Data were collected through interview of PHC officers using a structured questionnaire. Variables included disruption of management, budget, human resources, drug supply, Early Warning Alert and Response System (EWARS) of epidemic prone disease (EPD), human resource migration, health facility damage, and health facility access. Descriptive analysis was conducted to define disruption for a 1-y projection.

Health system disruptions in Palu affected management, budget, human resources, EWARS, health facility damage, and health access; occurred within 1-2 mo; and were projected to become better after 6 mo. Problems in Sigi were management, human resources, drug supply, EPD, and EWARS for 1 mo after disaster and were projected to be better after 2 mo. The problems in Donggala were health services access, management, human resources for 1 mo after the disaster and were projected to be normal after 2 mo.

Health system disruptions occurred in Central Sulawesi Province at the PHC level within 1-2 mo and were projected to become better after 3 mo in most PHCs.