Patalinghug, Trishia Mae E. BSCE 3 DAY NOV.

22, 2021
REACTION PAPER
It’s been a year since the first-ever COVID19 case happened in our country. Many things
have changed—our lifestyle, work, and schooling. And if we people changed because of the
pandemic, so did our environment. Desperate times like this may call for desperate measures. The
government prevented the spread of the virus by containing people and shutting down industries
and transportation. The question is, what impact will these means justify?
The result of the restrictions imposed various positive and negative impacts. May it be
short-term or long-term effects. The most notable effect was the improvement of our air quality.
According to Kanniah et al. (2020), an improvement in air quality was recorded in other countries
worldwide. From the National Air Quality Status Report, in Metro Manila, the concentrations of
PM2.5 and NO2 reduced by 80% and 45%, respectively, during the expanded community
quarantine, which was also attributable to a decrease in the number of motor vehicles on the road.
In the Philippines, mobility sources such as cars, motorbikes, and buses accounted for nearly 65%
of air pollution. The ozone layer rebounded and thickened briefly during the period of lockdowns
and quarantines. Pollution in tourist areas has decreased as well. With these data, we can say that
the pandemic gave constructive bearings to the environment. We got to enjoy a better air quality
momentarily—a better environment rather.
In contrast, a drastic increase in household and medical waste was also observed. As people
are confined to their houses, the surge in online delivery services significantly contributed to the
rise of household waste. Furthermore, the lockdowns caused significant effects on the workforce
that manages waste segregation and disposal. During the pandemic, an estimated 29,473 kg of
infectious healthcare waste from March to June, which includes used personal protective
equipment (PPE), dressings, swabs, blood bags, urine bags, sputum cups, syringes, test tubes, and
histopathological debris, were generated according to the Department of Health (PhilStar, 2020).
The positive impacts included the improvement of air quality, noise pollution, and surface
temperature reduction. And in contrast, a radical increase in household and medical wastes
emerged. These short-term effects challenged our environmental sustainability. It required an
immediate response from the government and the people. It forced us to assess our actions in
battling with the current ecological issues, the problems brought about by the pandemic, and the
consequences of the resolutions imposed.
As for the long-term, we learned the hard way—we are still. This pandemic and the
lockdowns have allowed us to examine our environment while changing our practices or lifestyles.
The data gathered will help researchers or even us for future predictions to better prepare and solve
or mitigate our environmental problems.