Though the level of lung-aggravating particulate matter in NYC air has mostly declined, air over the Cross Bronx Expressway still contains high levels of PM 2.5. We wrote about how this affects resident health, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Preliminary research suggests exposure to air pollution is associated with higher COVID-19 death rates. Nationally, this link is most apparent in The Bronx, according to a new peer-reviewed study out of SUNY’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry and ProPublica.
Using U.S. EPA data and local mortality figures, scientists found the Bronx ranked the worst for COVID-19 death rates and respiratory hazards of the more than 3,100 other counties in the country. (Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens placed second, third and sixth, respectively.)
OMG I TOOK A CLASS JESS KRUG TAUGHT ONCE vscjkvkfbklsbkdfscda
was trying to remember where I knew her from lmao
also this always seemed kinda obvious? it felt a little toooooo performative even then. i think i still have the syllabus from the class at my parents' house. a lot of the class was centered on racial justice and something just always felt off?????
The fact that the findings on U.S. journalism that came out of the Kerner Commission — convened to examine the unrest happening in American cities in the 60s — are still relevant more than 50 years later is massively disappointing:
(Journalists: Can we please keep this in mind as we report on what's happening in our cities? Will we refuse to "uncritically accept" and publish information we can't vet independently, like damage estimates? How hard are we gonna work to get the literal receipts?)
Evergreen, really: "The journalistic profession has been shockingly backward in seeking out, hiring, training, and promoting Negroes. ... "The plaint is “We can’t find qualified Negroes."
"Tokenism—the hiring of one Negro reporter, or even two or three—is no longer enough."
Twice I've applied for — and been denied — a NYPD press pass. I still don't understand why the police department is responsible for credentialing journalists.
Protests are intense for virtually every reporter at this point, but it worries me that I could be out trying to do the work and have problems with the police because of this.
For some reason I don't think I would get the benefit of the doubt 🙃
Three days after posting this, Amber Isaac, 26, died during delivery.
Her partner said she raised concerns about her care with doctors for weeks. Among them: She learned she was high-risk in February, he said, but she didn't have any office visits in March because of COVID-19.
Doctors opted to hold video calls in place of those office visits that month, her partner said. He told THE CITY was not sure whether she had any bloodwork done in March.
Amber "knew she needed to be seen," though, and called and emailed doctors for an in-person visit, he said.
Dr. Aimee Mankodi, maternal care director at the Institute for Family Health, called telehealth a “wonderful option” for many pregnant women, but added, “When you have high-risk pregnancies, you have to double down and try to really move fast, especially during COVID.”
In no other NYC borough are residents more likely to die from COVID-19 than in The Bronx, where those infected have died at a rate double that of the city, @THECITYNY's analysis of city data shows. New from @annjychoi + me, with help from @yoavgonen:
Of the confirmed cases, those who've contracted COVID-19 here die at a rate 3X higher than those who live in Manhattan. Public health experts say it’s likely The Bronx’s elevated death rate is connected to the borough’s high rates of diabetes, asthma & hypertension.
The Bronx logs more ER visits for asthma than any of the other 61 counties in the NY state. Bronx County also has the state’s highest share of adults — 16% — with diabetes. (Asthma and diabetes are among the conditions associated with COVID-19 complications.)