COVID-19 epidemic spread and green areas Italy and Spain between 2020 and 2021: An observational multi-country retrospective study

Five waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and green–blue spaces in urban and rural areas in Poland

“…Research in South Korea ( Lee et al, 2022 ) showed that a higher rate of natural greenness (forests and grasslands) is associated with lower COVID-19 incidence rates, while there is no relationship between built greenness and COVID-19 incidence rates. A higher share of public green areas was significantly associated with a low number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, and deaths in Italy and Spain ( Falco et al, 2022 ). A very interesting relationship was also presented by Lu et al (2021) .…”

“…In addition, these areas improve mental health, and reduce the severity of disease and even mortality ( Gascon et al, 2016 ; Vienneau et al, 2017 ; Rojas-Rueda et al, 2019 ; Andersen et al, 2021 ; Kasdagli et al, 2021 ; Labib et al, 2021 ; Peng et al, 2022 ). A literature review identified some recent ecological studies that showed that the green space ratio was associated with reduced COVID-19 incidence and mortality ( Klompmaker et al, 2021 ; Russette et al, 2021 ; Spotswood et al, 2021 ; Falco et al, 2022 ). Additionally, a greater exposure to green spaces (especially forests and urban parks) and a small distance of green space from human settlements may mitigate the risk of COVID-19 infection ( Johnson et al, 2021 ) and mortality ( Jiang et al, 2022 ; Yang et al, 2022 ), although the specific mechanism of the interaction between greenness and virus activity remains unknown.…”

Peculiar weather patterns effects on air pollution and COVID-19 spread in Tokyo metropolis

“…Tokyo is located in a polluted background with various significant PM2.5, PM10, O3, and NO2 sources surrounding it within about a 100 km radius ( Damiani et al, 2022 ). While urbanization has accelerated the conversion of vegetated land covers to built-up areas, the effects of green vegetation as biofilters for particulate matter have been reduced ( Lee et al, 2022 ), urban green and blue spaces being inversely associated with pandemic COVID-19 incidence and mortality ( Peng et al, 2022 ; Ciupa, 2023 ; Falco et al, 2023 ). Also, as a consequence, the urban land surface temperature increased ( Zaitunah et al, 2022 ) in annual mean at the rate of 3.0 °C/century during the 1901–2015 period ( Matsumoto et al, 2017 ).…”

Are the epidemic prevention facilities effective? How cities should choose epidemic prevention facilities: Taking Wuhan as an example

“…In urban epidemic studies, because most of the studies are based on the spread of epidemics, so there is a lack of research on epidemic prevention facilities and epidemic prevention and control tools (41)(42)(43). For example, Vick et al studied disaster response based on disaster plan development, on-site emergency response capabilities, available supplies and resources, disaster education and training, disaster preparedness funding levels, and disaster preparedness awareness (44).…”