This article cites a recent study that establishes the connection between air pollution and the severity of COVID-19 cases that implicates the EPA's recent civil enforcement freeze in COVID-19 related deaths. The EPA maintains that "they have done nothing to worsen air quality" but scholars have found that the relaxation of requirements to report to the EPA's pollution database has not only resulted in higher rates of pollution, but higher rates of more severe cases of COVID-19 in LMI and BIPOC communities. According to the study's findings, the areas in question saw "ozone concentrations climb 5%, while levels of soot, also known as fine particles or PM2.5, rose 13%."
In response, environmental organizations have begun to file lawsuits against the EPA. The EPA has responded by claiming that their policy did not allow for higher rates of pollution. They also criticized the study for citing research on the connection between pollution and COVID-19 severity which has yet to be peer reviewed.
Source
Reilly, Sean. 2020. “AIR POLLUTION: Study of Emissions and Virus Deaths Implicates EPA Policy.” E&E News Greenwire, July 17, 2020. https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063580943.
Cite as
Sean Reilly, "Study of emissions and virus deaths implicates EPA policy", contributed by James Adams, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 20 July 2020, accessed 4 May 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/study-emissions-and-virus-deaths-implicates-epa-policy
Critical Commentary
This article cites a recent study that establishes the connection between air pollution and the severity of COVID-19 cases that implicates the EPA's recent civil enforcement freeze in COVID-19 related deaths. The EPA maintains that "they have done nothing to worsen air quality" but scholars have found that the relaxation of requirements to report to the EPA's pollution database has not only resulted in higher rates of pollution, but higher rates of more severe cases of COVID-19 in LMI and BIPOC communities. According to the study's findings, the areas in question saw "ozone concentrations climb 5%, while levels of soot, also known as fine particles or PM2.5, rose 13%."
In response, environmental organizations have begun to file lawsuits against the EPA. The EPA has responded by claiming that their policy did not allow for higher rates of pollution. They also criticized the study for citing research on the connection between pollution and COVID-19 severity which has yet to be peer reviewed.