At the end of 2019, the world came across a virus, SARS-CoV-2. This new coronavirus produces the disease classified as COVID-19. The virus is highly transmissible and causes an acute respiratory syndrome that ranges from mild cases in about 80% to very severe cases with respiratory failure that varies between 5% and 10% of cases. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a pandemic, classifying it a high global risk. The epicenter of the outbreak of this pandemic was the city of Wuhan in China’s Hubei Province. The risk assessment for COVID-19 depends on the characteristics of the virus, including how it spreads among people. Among the risks, we have is the risk of exposure, and in this way we can assess occupational exposure to waste from health services. Human health risk assessment is a process of gathering and analyzing environmental and health information using specific techniques to support decision making and the execution, systematically, of actions and articulation within and between sectors for the use and promotion of health, improving the social and living conditions of populations. The risk assessment for COVID-19 needs to consider and document all relevant information available at the time of assessment. In this way, decision making will be directed and a record of the process will be provided, including which risks and control measures were evaluated, the methods used to evaluate them, why they were considered important, and their order of priority. In this sense, if documented in a consistent manner, risk assessment may provide a record of the justification for changes throughout the event, including the level of risk assessed, recommended control measures, and key decisions and actions that will be fundamental to be considered in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. This book addresses the new challenges of COVID-19 in detail with up-to-date knowledge on safety risk, economics, and ELSI of COVID-19.
