Thread by @nytimes

The Notre-Dame cathedral fire exposed schools, day cares and parks nearby to alarming levels of lead. Our investigation found French authorities failed to properly alert the public to health risks, even as their understanding of the danger became clearer.
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Within 48 hours, authorities had indications that contamination from 460 tons of lead on Notre-Dame's roof and spire could pose a grave problem. But they waited a month to conduct the first tests at nearby public schools, many of which had stayed open.
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Even as the problem's scope became clearer, authorities downplayed the health risks. This month, Paris officials opened public schools for a new year and said none still had alarming lead levels — but not all schools within the risk area have been tested.
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Levels of lead dust deposited near the cathedral were up to 1,300 times higher than French safety guidelines. More than 6,000 children under the age of 6 live within a half mile of locations where lead levels exceeded those guidelines, our analysis found.
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Workers at the cathedral have been exposed to the highest lead levels. Among other safety lapses, labor inspectors found that when workers started to decontaminate the plaza in June, they wore no protection and hadn't had any training about lead exposure.
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Some French officials cautioned against "paranoia" and argued that in a city as old as Paris, not all of the high lead levels can be attributed to the Notre-Dame fire. The test results may in part reflect broader underlying problems with lead in the city.
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But failures in the official response to the fire have stirred anxiety in Paris. "We will only know in a couple of years if there are consequences," said a spokesperson for an organization representing lead poisoning victims. "And they could be terrible."
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Here are the takeaways from our investigation into the Notre-Dame fire's toxic fallout and what you need to know if you have visited Paris since the fire, or are considering going
nytimes.com/2019/09/14/wor…