Dear Colleagues,

Several studies have shown the impact of this pandemic not only on physical health but also on psychological health. The health effects of COVID-19 are both direct, due to exposure to the virus or fear of contagion in the case of mental health, and indirect. For example, the measures developed to deal with this situation (lockdown) have been shown to have an effect on people’s mental health. In addition, the pandemic is producing changes in the set of health determinants such as working and employment conditions, housing conditions, the possibilities of contact and social support, and even healthcare. The collapse of health services in certain countries has been associated with increases in mortality from all causes during the period of the pandemic.

The negative effects on health have generated a significant amount of research. To a much lesser extent, research has been done on the potential positive effects of the pandemic, and on the factors that affect emotional wellbeing and health. This has been the case, despite the fact that specific studies have shown at least two areas in which positive effects have been known: emotional wellbeing and environmental pollution.

This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) focuses on the current state of knowledge about the possible positive impacts that the pandemic, and the social changes in working and living conditions associated with it, have been able to generate both for mental health and for the improvement of environmental pollution. Papers about factors that generate resilience in people, workers, welfare system, and environments in the context of the pandemic are welcome.

Some of the possible topics for this issue may be:

• Positive COVID-19 results on mental health and the environment and resilience factors;
• Changes in health determinants during the pandemic;
• Social inequalities, and specifically gender inequalities, in the beneficial effects;
• Possible interventions, actions or recommendations to alleviate the effect of the pandemic;
• Resilience of health systems and associated factors;
• Strengthening of health structures;
• Changes in working conditions (e.g., increased teleworking), social and life changes, and their positive effects on health;
• Methods to evaluate the positive impact of the pandemic.

New research papers, reviews, case reports, and conference papers are welcome to this issue. Other manuscript types accepted include methodological papers, position papers, brief reports, and commentaries. 

Prof. Dr. Inmaculada Mateo-Rodríguez
Prof. Dr. Antonio Daponte-Codina
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• COVID-19
• positive effects
• mental health
• environmental pollution
• resilience
• determinants of health
• psychological wellbeing