Assessment of COVID-19 Waste Flows During the Emergency State in Romania and Related Public Health and Environmental Concerns.

Florin-Constantin Mihai

doi:10.3390/ijerph17155439

Abstract

This paper provides a rapid assessment method of potentially infectious waste flow related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Romania focusing on the emergency state (from 16 March to 14 May 2020) where a national lockdown was in force with restrictive and social distancing measures concerning population mobility and economic activities. Medical and municipal waste management systems are critical services in combating the virus spread in the community. This assessment is useful due to poor available data of medical waste flow in environmental reports and it covers COVID-19 patients, quarantined, and self-isolated persons as the main potential infectious waste sources. The proposed model estimates that COVID-19 related waste flow is 4312 t at the national level from 25 February to 15 June of which 2633 t in the emergency state period. This assessment is correlated with deficiencies of medical and municipal waste management systems in Romania before the COVID-19 pandemic as stress factors of public health and environment. This study points out the main challenges of waste operators and reveals some best practices during this pandemic crisis. Based on the results and discussion section, several recommendations are proposed to COVID-19 waste-related issues and points out the crucial role of the reliable medical and municipal waste database in managing such biologic hazards at national and EU levels. Monitoring of COVID-19 waste flow through such models are important for decision-makers, particularly in low and middle-income countries which are facing waste management deficiencies and gaps in waste statistics, to reduce other contamination risks or related environmental threats.

Highlights

IntroductionOrganization (WHO) to declare the pandemic status on 11 March 2020
The geographic expansion of the COVID-19 outbreak around the world forced the World HealthOrganization (WHO) to declare the pandemic status on 11 March 2020
Self-isolation wastes prevailed in all periods as amounts generated, but this waste stream has a lower infectious potential being managed by ordinary municipal waste operators and disposed of in landfills

Summary

Introduction

Organization (WHO) to declare the pandemic status on 11 March 2020. Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) pointed out that waste management is an essential public service in avoiding secondary impacts upon public health and environment and special attention should be paid to handle medical, household and other hazardous items in such a period [1]. Massive amounts of medical waste have already been generated and disposed into the natural environment [2]. Romania declared a state of emergency on 16 March due to the pandemic crisis in which a national lockdown was implemented since the first case of COVID-19 patient was registered on 26 February. The National Public Health Institute of Romania declared household waste generated in quarantines as infectious waste on 18 March 2020.

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