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COVID-19 and Beyond: Our Selections for the Best ES&T Letters Papers in 2020
Environmental Science & Technology Letters ( IF 8.9 ) Pub Date : 2021-08-10 , DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00562 Bryan W. Brooks , William A. Arnold , Alexandria B. Boehm , Jonathan W. Martin , James R. Mihelcic , Daniel Schlenk , Shuxiao Wang
Environmental Science & Technology Letters ( IF 8.9 ) Pub Date : 2021-08-10 , DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00562 Bryan W. Brooks , William A. Arnold , Alexandria B. Boehm , Jonathan W. Martin , James R. Mihelcic , Daniel Schlenk , Shuxiao Wang
Environmental Science & Technology Letters (ES&T Letters) publishes novel and urgent contributions in a timely manner and thus provides a unique international forum within the environmental science, engineering, and health communities. Selecting the Best Paper Awards presents a difficult task given the expectations we have for high-quality research. As our team of editors carefully reflected on the 137 papers published in the journal in 2020, which represented an ∼11% increase from 2019, it is not surprising that a number of manuscripts examined aspects of the emergence of a major global pandemic. It is therefore fitting that four of the five Best Paper Awards focused on facets of COVID-19, particularly at the interfaces of environment and health. Please join us in extending warmest congratulations to the winners! One of the year’s Best Papers specifically focused on the use of environmental science and engineering to inform the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Medema and colleagues in “Presence of SARS-Coronavirus-2 RNA in Sewage and Correlation with Reported COVID-19 Prevalence in the Early Stage of the Epidemic in The Netherlands” (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00357) were among the very first to document the presence and concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater. Although the virus is primarily respiratory, its RNA is shed in high concentrations in the stool of many infected individuals, and these authors confirmed it can be detected in sewage. Medema et al. further showed that concentrations in sewage were associated with COVID-19 occurrence in the surrounding communities contributing to the sewer system. Since this paper was published, the use of wastewater-based epidemiology to track COVID-19 infections has expanded globally beyond the laboratories of academia to industrial laboratories, public health departments, and national disease surveillance institutes. In addition to this area becoming an increasingly important pursuit during the pandemic, it continues to advance studies of urbanization in general and population health and urban metabolism in particular. In their mini-review paper entitled “Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Persistence and Disinfection of Human Coronaviruses and Their Viral Surrogates in Water and Wastewater” (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00313), Silverman and Boehm provided a timely contribution, again at the interface of environment and health. When this paper was contributed, there was limited information about the exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in water and wastewater. Thus, there was a decided need to understand coronavirus decay rates in wastewater and the effectiveness of various disinfection processes. This work more broadly supported the wastewater-based epidemiology efforts described above. Looking forward, this article provides a useful example of the benefits of using systematic review approaches within environmental science and technology. In addition to water and wastewater considerations, the world continues to experience profound impacts of COVID-19 on ambient air quality as the pandemic continues. In one of the first studies, “Substantial Changes in Nitrogen Dioxide and Ozone after Excluding Meteorological Impacts during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Mainland China” (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00304), Zhao and colleagues investigated the short-term responses of air quality to COVID-19 in mainland China during the second half of January 2020 when the virus suddenly hit the country and triggered national quarantine. By integrating nationwide ground-level observations with model simulations, they successfully separated the impacts of emission reductions and meteorological factors on air-quality changes. Zhao et al. reported a significant increase in the level of O3 during the quarantine while that of NOx declined. By evaluating data from individual cities, they show the important but spatially varying roles of emission and meteorology in driving short-term air-quality changes during the COVID-19 quarantine. The study concludes that it is essential and important to consider the co-impacts of meteorology and different chemical mechanisms in evaluating air pollution control policies and countermeasures. The COVID-19 lockdown also provided a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of significant reductions in anthropogenic emissions on air quality. In their paper “Driving Forces of the Changes in Air Quality during the COVID-19 Lockdown Period in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China” (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00511), Liu et al. found that an ambient PM2.5 decrease was mainly caused by the emission reductions of primary PM, but an O3 increase was driven by NOx emission reductions as well as changes in meteorological conditions. The investigators also demonstrated that enhanced O3 promoted secondary aerosol formation and partially offset the decrease in PM2.5 caused by the primary PM emission reductions during the lockdown. This work highlights the importance of controlling the atmospheric oxidation capacity for reducing high PM2.5 pollution during winter months in highly polluted environments. In 2020, ES&T Letters launched a new article type, Global Perspective. It is perhaps also fitting that the first Global Perspective article, “Scientific Basis for Managing PFAS as a Chemical Class” (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00255), written by Kwiatkowski and colleagues was identified as one of the Best Papers of the year. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are receiving an increasing amount of attention around the world. In this Global Perspective, the authors present their ideas and recommendations for managing PFAS as a chemical class. Such commentary is necessary, and the paper stimulated broader communications and additional conversation, as evidenced by a subsequent Comment (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00765) and Response by the authors (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00049). Again looking forward, future Global Perspective manuscripts will similarly aim to provide rapid exposure, insights, critiques, syntheses, and recommendations on urgent, timely, and new global strategic directions, topics, and ambitions in environmental science and technology. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present major challenges around the world. It has illuminated needs and opportunities to improve policies, systems, processes, technologies, and the workforce within environmental science, engineering, and health. Recently published manuscripts within ES&T Letters continue to examine diverse aspects of the pandemic and the environment but of course are further studying many other timely topics. We continue to welcome your best work at ES&T Letters, and we again congratulate the Best Paper Award winners from 2020. This article has not yet been cited by other publications.
更新日期：2021-08-10
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