Environmental Racism and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors

  • Erin Kim Phillips Academy
  • Dr. Arijit Chakraborty Massachusetts General Hospital

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i1.2444

Keywords:

COVID-19, Pandemic, Air Pollution, Environmental Racism, Planetary Health, Public Health, Public Policy, Climate Justice

Abstract

Exposure to air pollutants like ground-level ozone and particulate matter is closely associated with rates of COVID-19 mortality and transmission. Potential biological mechanisms connecting pollution with COVID-19 severity include overexpression of the ACE2 receptor, pollutants’ role as a carrier or transport vector for COVID-19, destruction of the cilia, and compromised immune response of the lungs. Thus, individuals with more long-term exposure to air pollution are much more susceptible to severe symptoms from COVID-19. Social disparities dramatically affect which populations are regularly exposed to air pollutants and therefore incur disproportionate rates of respiratory diseases. Environmental racism and racial segregation have been shown to be significantly and positively associated with exposure to air pollution from sources like car engines and power plants. This results in individuals of low socioeconomic status, people of color, and those living in low-income areas being often exposed to increased levels of air pollution, making them more likely to suffer greater tragedies from COVID-19 and respiratory diseases. The results of this study provide insight into the public policy work necessary to ameliorate health inequities resulting from environmental racism and to prevent worse outcomes from future pandemics.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References or Bibliography

American Lung Association. 2020, March 6. What Makes Outdoor Air Unhealthy.

American Lung Association. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from

https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/what-makes-air-unhealthy.

American Lung Association. 2020, April 20. What Makes Air Unhealthy: Ozone. American

Lung Association. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/

what-makes-air-unhealthy/ozone.

Berend, N. 2016. Contribution of air pollution to COPD and small airway dysfunction.

Respirology 21 (2): 237–244.

Bourdrel, T., Annesi-Maesano, I., Alahmad, B., Maesano, C. N., Bind, M.-A.

The impact of outdoor air pollution on covid-19: A review of

evidence from in vitro, animal, and human studies. European Respiratory

Review 30 (159).

Bravo, M. A., Anthopolos, R., Bell, M. L., Miranda, M. L. 2016. Racial isolation and

exposure to airborne particulate matter and ozone in understudied U.S. populations:

Environmental justice applications of downscaled numerical model output. Environment

International 92: 247-255.

California Air Resources Board Research Division. 2021. Inhalable Particulate

Matter and Health (PM2.5 and PM10). California Air Resources Board.

Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/

inhalable-particulate-matter-and-health#:~:text=Short%2Dterm%20exposures%20to%20P

M10,hospitalization%20and%20emergency%20department%20visits.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 2009. Introduction to the Housing Voucher Program.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from

https://www.cbpp.org/research/introduction-to-the-housing-voucher-program.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2021, October 7. Demographic Trends of

COVID-19 cases and deaths in the U.S. reported to CDC. COVID Data Tracker. Retrieved

October 8, 2021, from https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#demographics.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2021, October 14. People with

Certain Medical Conditions. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/

need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html.

Chen G., Zhang W., Li S., Williams G., Liu C., Morgan G.G., Jaakkola J.J.K., Guo Y. 2017. Is

short-term exposure to ambient fine particles associated with measles incidence in China? A

multi-city study. Environ. Res 156: 306–311.

Chen, K., Wang, M., Huang, C., Kinney, P. L., Anastas, P. T. 2020. Air

pollution reduction and mortality benefit during the covid-19 outbreak in

china. The Lancet Planetary Health 4 (6).

Comunian, S., Dongo, D., Milani, C., Palestini, P. 2020. Air Pollution and Covid-19: The

Role of Particulate Matter in the Spread and Increase of Covid-19's Morbidity and Mortality.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17(12): 4487.

Cook, E. 2020, April 21. Nearly Half of U.S. Breathing Unhealthy Air;

Record-breaking Air Pollution in Nine Western Cities. American Lung

Association. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.lung.org/media/

press-releases/state-of-the-air-2020.

Fackelmann, K., Pierce, T. 2021, July 20. COVID-19 Shutdowns Reveal Racial Disparities in

Exposure to Air Pollution. The George Washington University Media Relations News

Releases. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from https://mediarelations.gwu.edu/

covid-19-shutdowns-reveal-racial-disparities-exposure-air-pollution.

Galiatsatos, P. 2021, April 12. COVID-19 Lung Damage. Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/

conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/what-coronavirus-does-to-the-lungs.

Gerretsen, I. 2020, April 27. How air pollution exacerbates COVID-19. BBC News. Retrieved

November 17, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200427-how-air-pollution-

exacerbates-covid-19.

Harvard School of Public Health. 2021. Coronavirus, Climate Change, and the Environment: A

Conversation on COVID-19 with Dr. Aaron Bernstein, Director of Harvard Chan

C-CHANGE. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Center for Climate, Health, and

the Global Environment. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/subtopics/coronavirus-and-climate-change/.

Hawkins, D. 2020, April 16. The coronavirus burden is falling heavily on black

Americans. Why? The Guardian. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/16/

black-workers-coronavirus-covid-19.

Kesic, M. J., Meyer, M., Bauer, R., Jaspers, I. 2012. Exposure to ozone

modulates human airway protease/antiprotease balance contributing to

increased influenza A infection. PLoS ONE 7 (4).

Leikauf, G. D., Kim, S. H., Jang, A. S. 2020. Mechanisms of ultrafine

particle-induced respiratory health effects. Experimental & Molecular

Medicine 52 (3): 329-337.

Liang, D., Shi, L., Zhao, J., Liu, P., Sarnat, J. A., Gao, S., Schwartz, J.,

Liu, Y., Ebelt, S. T., Scovronick, N., Chang, H. H. 2020. Urban Air

Pollution May Enhance COVID-19 Case-Fatality and Mortality Rates in the

United States. The Innovation 1 (3).

Liu, S., Li, M. 2020. Ambient air pollutants and their effect on COVID-19 mortality in the

United States of America. Rev Panam Salud Publica 44: 159.

Mikati, I., Benson, A. F., Luben, T. J., Sacks, J. D., Richmond-Bryant, J.

Disparities in Distribution of Particulate Matter Emission Sources by Race and Poverty

Status. American Journal of Public Health 108: 480-485.

New Hampshire Environmental Public Health Tracking. 2018. Environmental

Topics: Air Quality. New Hampshire Environmental Public Health Tracking.

Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.nh.gov/epht/

environmental-topics/air.htm.

th Congress. 2020, October 1. Environmental Justice For All Act H.R.5986. Congress.gov.

Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill

/5986/text.

Perry, A. M., Rothwell, J., Harshbarger, D. 2018, November 27. The

devaluation of assets in Black neighborhoods: The case of residential

property. Brookings. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from

https://www.brookings.edu/research/devaluation-of-assets-in-black-neighborhoods/.

Petroni, M., Hill, D., Younes, L., Barkman, L., Howard, S., Howell, I. B.,

Mirowsky, J., Collins, M. B. 2020. Hazardous air pollutant exposure as

a contributing factor to covid-19 mortality in the united states.

Environmental Research Letters 15 (9).

Pozzer, A., Dominici, F., Haines, A., Witt, C., Münzel, T., Lelieveld, J.

Regional and global contributions of air pollution to risk of death

from covid-19. Cardiovascular Research 116 (14): 2247-2253.

Prunicki, M. 2020, July 17. Why air pollution is linked to severe cases of COVID-19. Stanford

Medicine. Retrieved November 17, 2021, from https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2020/07/17/

why-air-pollution-is-linked-to-severe-cases-of-covid-19/.

Soucheray, S. 2020. U.S. blacks 3 times more likely than whites to get COVID-19. Center for

Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota. Retrieved October 29,

, from https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/08/us-blacks-

-times-more-likely-whites-get-covid-19.

Tabuchi, H., Popovich, N. 2021, September 7. People of Color Breathe More

Hazardous Air. The Sources Are Everywhere. The New York Times. Retrieved

October 29, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/climate/

air-pollution-minorities.html.

Tessum, C. W., Paolella, D. A., Chambliss, S. E., Apte, J. S., Hill, J. D.,

Marshall, J. D. 2021. PM 2.5 polluters disproportionately and

systemically affect people of color in the united states. Science Advances 7 (18).

The New York Times. 2021, October 29. Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and

Case Count. The New York Times. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html.

Travaglio, M., Yu, Y., Popovic, R., Selley, L., Leal, N. S., Martins, L. M. 2021. Links

between air pollution and COVID-19 in England. Environmental Pollution 268: 115859.

United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2021, May 26. Particulate

Matter (PM) Basics. United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/

particulate-matter-pm-basics.

United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2021, September 15. Health Effects of Ozone

in the General Population. United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.epa.gov/

ozone-pollution-and-your-patients-health/health-effects-ozone-general-population.

Washington, H. A. 2020. How environmental racism is fuelling the coronavirus

pandemic. Nature 581 (7808): 241.

Wu, X., Nethery, R. C., Sabath, M. B., Braun, D., Dominici, F. 2020. Air pollution and

COVID-19 mortality in the United States: Strengths and limitations of an ecological

regression analysis. Science Advances 6 (45).

Published

02-28-2022

How to Cite

Kim, E., & Chakraborty, A. (2022). Environmental Racism and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Student Research, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i1.2444

Issue

Section

HS Review Articles