Also importantly, the plan lays out a strategy to get to the emissions reductions targets in the Community Energy Plan of 2017.

We cannot cast aside these important provisions and plans because of COVID19. It is just as important if not more so now, that these issues are brought out for public debate towards implementation. Recognizing that COVID19 and the climate crisis are interrelated and in many ways, the same in terms of the kinds of considerations necessary to take action, then with the political will they can be addressed.

Additional measures that could be taken in parallel efforts to address COVID19 and climate justice would be the collection of more COVID-19 data on race/ethnicity and income. This would facilitate assessing social, economic, and environmental stresses and vulnerabilities and can help policymakers effectively direct resources.

Documenting the health effects of environmental hazards has been an obstacle in that there is a delay between exposure and the appearance of disease. However, with COVID19, the immediacy of how vulnerability translates into exposure is evident and also brings out how environmental health disparities have contributed to underlying health conditions. As we confront COVID19, the work to find solutions to the underlying conditions that exacerbate the impacts on the virus and which are the same for climate change is necessary.

Humans live in a nested set of relationships. Health is intricately intertwined with many factors. Individual health is the sum of the conditions of families, workplaces, communities, nations, and even global conditions.

Using a lens that sees the interconnectedness of COVID19 and climate change helps to identify the many consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as those that are and will be the same with climate change.

Governments and public health officials can and should take climate measures and accelerate them now, even as we deal with COVID-19. Applying a precautionary approach to all current and future human health issues, with a lens of justice and equity as we make decisions about how to apply population-based, precautionary measures for the health and well-being of the collective is good public health and good governance.

Respectfully submitted,