Rattan Lal is a prolific writer. One of the risks of producing so much is that you produce some junk. This is junk, pandemic opportunism for the cause of soil health.
There is no plausible link between Covid-19 and the need to sustain our soil. https://twitter.com/CSUChicoRegenAg/status/1260340905573183491

Strangely, Lal seems to hint at the need for "significant human depopulation" in a section stuck in the 2nd paragraph: "Historically, there is also strong evidence that a significant human depopulation can create a cooling
effect."

Like so much recent writing, Lal covers the range of POSSIBLE causes of the pandemic, extrapolating in the direction of his target issues "excessive plowing and inundation by irrigation, indiscriminate use of chemicals... addiction to fossil fuel" Again, no plausible link.

Then this, "figure 1 depicts the onset of some overlapping vicious cycles, which are set in motion by ad-hoc deforestation...and soil mismanagement." and leads to pandemics. "Everything is connected" right? It must be true if the diagram shows it. More junk.

I once listened to Lal give a talk on space farming and found it so crazy that I wrote about it, http://csanr.wsu.edu/space-farming-is-science-fiction/
Stick to what you know and don't try to connect it to everything.