The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on carbon dioxide emissions and the ozone layer

Abstract

Amidst the growing public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread lockdowns and travel restriction measures have drastically reduced levels of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – many of which have an ozone depleting effect with evidence of holes in the ozone layer closing. By consequence, the findings and data recorded throughout the course of the pandemic has numerous implications for human health, the environment, and strategies moving forward. In this commentary, we review the impact of COVID-19 across a number of regions across the world and what lessons we can anticipate integrating in the context of policy and public health interventions