Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

Research by the Centres of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests COVID-19 can spread from people to animals after close contact with a person sick with COVID-19, although the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low. Consider how to work with vets, zoos, animal charities, animal shelter programmes and other stakeholders to disseminate information to pet owners, the public, and those who work with animals to understand how to protect themselves and others from transmitting the virus through and to animals. Consider how to:

• Protect those with pets at home by:
  • Informing the public about possible transmission to, and between their pets. The CDC states that common household pets such as cats and dogs can be infected with COVID-19, but caution is advised as there may be other types of animals that can get infected
  • Due to possible transmission, consider reiterating that if owners have symptoms they, and their animals should be isolated and practice social distancing to reduce risk of transmission
• For those who work with animals consider:
  • Paying attention to species suspected by CDC research to contract COVID-19 from humans e.g. in zoos (big cats), in breeding (cats, dogs, hamsters), or farms (mink or ferrets)
  • Make staff aware of possible transmission, provide appropriate PPE and ensure distancing/isolation guidelines
• The CDC suggests that more studies are needed to understand if and how different animals could be affected by COVID-19

Wildfire seasons are increasingly common in some countries, causing periodic exposure to smoke particles that can overwhelm the immune system and exacerbate and cause respiratory problems. Additionally, research has discovered correlations between smoke caused by summer wildfires, and more severe flu seasons the following winter. Consider:

• Surge capacity in healthcare settings to manage compounding impacts of wildfires smoke on respiratory viruses such as flu and COVID-19
• Advising against use of 'community clean air shelters', which offered respite from smoke in normal years, but are now risky because of the pandemic and the need for social distancing
• During smoky periods advise people to stay at home as much as possible with windows and doors closed
• If your house has forced air, install a filter that filters harmful particles (with a MERV rating of 13 or higher). If not, select one room of your home, ideally the coolest one, and use a portable air cleaner
• Where possible/needed use properly fitting N95 respirator masks to filter smoke particles, as COVID-19 cloth/face coverings don't offer protection from smoke

Heat waves pose a particular risk to those already vulnerable to COVID-19 including the elderly (>65 years), and those with pre-existing health conditions (e.g. cardiovascular, pulmonary, kidney disease), and essential workers. COVID-19 and heat can put strains on health, and on surge capacity plans for hospitals to deal with concurrent risks. Additionally, people may expose themselves to other risks such as limiting social distancing measures to check in on older neighbours. Consider how to:

• Collaborate with formal and informal social service systems to identify and reach vulnerable individuals with information and support to protect them
• Increase the use of telephone outreach programmes for daily check-ins with the most vulnerable
• Increase enrolment of vulnerable people into check-ins and resources to run the system
• Review plans for in-home safety checks. Ensure the health and safety of staff, volunteers and the people they visit through training and the provision of PPE
• Identify high-risk communities by reviewing where local heat islands occur, and where this may overlap with high incidence or risk of COVID-19
• Assist efforts to review and expand social safety net programmes to support at-home cooling strategies for the most vulnerable e.g. utilise expanding energy subsidies to ensure households can afford home cooling measures

Further information on how to carry out public outreach on heatwaves during the COVID-19 pandemic can be found here: http://climatecentre.org/downloads/files/HWG%20appendix%20Extreme%20Heat%20during%20the%20COVID-19%20pandemic.pdf

This lesson was contributed to by a Chief Resilience Officer in Colombia during project data collection.

Effective local climate leadership is central in tackling local climate disasters such as floods, forest fires and extreme heatwaves. Local governments are adept at initiating infrastructure investments, policies, and programs that strengthen resilience against future climate stresses and shocks. Consider how to locally navigate climate-action priorities through the COVID-19 crisis to:

• Boost climate-action momentum to mitigate risks and costs of delayed action e.g. combined impacts of COVID-19 and climate change on vulnerable people, economic disruption, public health (clean air, sufficient safe food and water)
• Prepare for impacts of climate change and COVID-19. Address threat multipliers such as pollution or natural disasters through local reduction of carbon emissions, retrofitting buildings, defences, and ring-fenced funding
• Build on residents' and businesses' behaviour changes during the pandemic that reduce emissions and enhance resiliency e.g. working from home, careful used of medical resources
• Maximize local benefits of an economic recovery that is climate friendly e.g. focus on the circular economy, use of renewable energies

This could include:

• Retrofitting programmes to make buildings more energy-efficient
• Mass tree planting
• Investment in solar and wind power
• Building infrastructure required for increased consumption and use of electric cars such as improved electricity networks, and public and personal capacity for charging stations

Additionally, due to lockdown these measures may not be as disruptive to people's daily lives compared to, for example, offices being retrofitted while in constant use.

This lesson was conributed to by Chief Resilience Officers in Italy and Australia during project data collection, along with the source link below.

While COVID-19 has had positive impacts on pollution levels, the creation of additional plastic waste from PPE and disposable items is going to landfill. Consider:

• Campaigns to remind people and businesses of the disadvantages of single-use plastics, and the benefits of reusable containers i.e. water bottles and carrier bags
• Campaigns to educate and remind people and businesses of the environmental impact of non-recyclable takeaway food packaging
• What can be done to mitigate the environmental impacts of increasing medical waste that is contaminated or not economical to recycle

PPE for recycling plant workers will be required to reduce waste going to landfill and consideration will need to be given to mitigate the impacts of dropping oil prices limited on the economies of recycling.

Local government should plan for the effect of cascading disasters that happen at the same time as Covid-19. This should plan for solutions and mass care and solutions which respect social distancing during evacuation and shelter.

Reference: American Red Cross, USA