Air is political. Research study suggests race is the biggest predictor of whether an individual lives near a greatly contaminated location. Covid-19 is specifically lethal for clients with respiratory issues.
Now scientists are studying whether air pollution makes Covid-19 health problems more extreme. They are particularly concerned with so-called sacrifice zones, locations with pervasive exposure to poisonous emissions. For activists, the Covid-19 crisis has actually been a call to arms to reassess the balance of power in between polluters and low-income neighborhoods.
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In April, researchers at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health compared death rates from Covid-19 with air contamination levels for each of the nation’s 3,000 counties. They discovered that elevated levels of great particle matter (an air contaminant abbreviated as PM 2.5) are connected with a boost in the Covid-19 death rate, even after controlling for other factors like income or preexisting conditions.
The authors noted that counties with a higher portion of black homeowners had consistently greater rates of Covid-19 deaths, though this was not part of the research study. African Americans were more likely than other racial groups to reside in counties with elevated levels of PM 2.5. The data is “consistent with formerly reported findings that black Americans are at higher risk of Covid-19 death than other groups,” the report states.
In a different study, researchers at the Tulane Environmental Law Center took a look at the impact of Covid-19 on a 130- mile strip of southeast Louisiana known as “ Cancer Street” The region is home to lots of petrochemical plants, some of which encircle historic black communities. 8 of the 10 Louisiana parishes with the greatest Covid-19 death rates remain in Cancer Alley.
” Parishes with more pollution and higher percentages of African Americans have greater Covid-19 death rates,” states Kimberly Terrell, director of neighborhood outreach at the Tulane clinic. “And that is not explained by hardship, by joblessness, by diabetes, or by weight problems.”
Terrell took a look at 2 kinds of air pollution: the PM 2.5 dust particles examined in the Harvard research study and toxic chemicals noted in the EPA’s National Air Toxics Assessment For both steps, Terrell says that even when managing for other prospective factors, parishes with higher rates of air pollution had more black people and greater Covid-19 death rates.
Levels of PM 2.5 have dropped in Louisiana in recent decades. They dropped less in heavily black locations, where industrial pollution remained consistent or in
