The Environmental Effect of Quarantine

Throughout the world the effects of the Coronavirus can be seen: isolation, death, and, job loss. Although we have been met with many hardships and heartache, there has been some positives. With the majority of people staying home, there has been less pollution production and more animal integration. This quarantine is not only benefitting the health of  people, but the environment as well.

This unfound upside has been seen throughout the continents. For example, India imposed one of the world’s biggest lockdowns, forcing 1.3 billion people to stay home as well as reducing factory work. Prior to the pandemic, India was known as having the worst air pollution on earth and over a million deaths in a year due to the horrible quality of the atmosphere. Now that the vast population is sheltering in place, there has been a decrease in vehicle use and dramatic changes. The Indian home ministry even said in a statement that there was “significant gains in the Covid-19 situation”. India and cities around the world are reporting drastically lower PM 2.5 and NO2 levels. The citizens living in these polluted areas hope to continue cleaning the air in their communities long after the lockdown is over.