Draft#1 Summary & Reader Response "What we do and don't know about the links between air pollution and coronavirus"

In the article "What we do and don't know about the links between air pollution and coronavirus", Lewis (2020) shares that there are discussions on significant relations between air pollution and coronavirus deaths, however, it has neglected to consider other geographically-connected factors. Lewis explains that coronavirus started and has later spread in urban areas with air pollution exposure but there are other factors such as the "often use of mass transit systems, higher rates of poverty and deprivation, and proportionally larger ethnic minority populations". These factors increase the possibility of a person having a health condition that may make coronavirus more serious. The author also mentions "air pollution data is a victim of its own success". People are quick to link air pollution to coronavirus because its data is easy to access and correlate without inquiring about the histories of affected individuals. Lewis concluded that there is no reliable proof that air pollution does affect coronavirus.

While I agree with Lewis that air pollution has some correlation with coronavirus and there are other factors to be considered, the author fails to develop further on the factors he mentioned that affects mortality rate of coronavirus: ethnic affiliation, persons poverty level, and the minorities and lower-income group health conditions.

To begin with, urban areas contain a large ethnic minority population. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a national public health institute in the United States conducted a study on 10,000 patients who died from coronavirus ("Patients Most Likely to Die From COVID-19?", 2020). They reported that 34.9% of them were Hispanic decedents, 29.5% were non-white decedents but only 13.2% were white decedents. There are more death rates among minorities as they live in neighbourhoods lacking common necessities. In an article, Ray (2020) mentioned that minorities may find access to health care difficult due to “hospitals being farther away and pharmacies are subpar, leading to more days waiting for urgent prescriptions”. The author also shares on minorities not having the luxury of working from home as they are part of the essential workforce. Inadequate healthcare and being over-exposed increases their risk of contracting coronavirus.

Minorities are also in the lower-income community, which brings me to the next factor, poverty. Simon (2020) states that the poor have low-quality housing, they live in high densities area with limited space and bad air quality, this implies that the virus can be easily spread among them. He also explained that the lower-income group is more likely to have “poor diets, get inadequate exercise and to be overweight” which exposes them to chronic health conditions putting them at high risk. 

Underlying health condition is a factor faced by both minorities and the lower-income. According to Bubola & Fisher (2020), people at the bottom end of society are around 10% more likely to have it. From the same article, there is recent evidence from the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stating that these factors will make coronavirus “up to 10 times deadly”. An underlying health condition such as diabetes, respiratory or kidney disease is a long-term illness that weakens the immune system, it places these people at higher risk of contracting coronavirus and severe complications from coronavirus (Downey, 2020). People with pre-existing lung problems will develop severe symptoms as coronavirus targets the lungs, and people who have obesity and diabetes have low efficiency of the immune system ("Who's at higher risk of serious symptoms?", 2020). 

In conclusion, other than air pollution, the three factors mentioned play a big part in the increase mortality rate of coronavirus alongside air pollution. Preventive measure should be placed to help reduce the spread of coronavirus.

Reference:

Which Patients Are Most Likely to Die From COVID-19? (2020, August 7). U.S. Pharmacist. https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/which-patients-are-most-likely-to-die-from-covid19

Ray, R. (2020, April 9). Why are Blacks dying at higher rates from COVID-19? Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/04/09/why-are-blacks-dying-at-higher-rates-from-covid-19/

Simon, D. (2020, April 23). Cities are at centre of coronavirus pandemic – understanding this can help build a sustainable, equal future. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/cities-are-at-centre-of-coronavirus-pandemic-understanding-this-can-help-build-a-sustainable-equal-future-136440

Bubola, E. & Fisher, M. (2020, March 15). As Coronavirus Deepens Inequality, Inequality Worsens Its Spread. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/world/europe/coronavirus-inequality.html

Downey, A. (2020, March 25). COVID-19 coronavirus: what is an underlying health condition? Patient. https://patient.info/news-and-features/covid-19-coronavirus-what-is-an-underlying-health-condition

COVID-19: Who's at higher risk of serious symptoms? (2020, Aug 21). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-who-is-at-risk/art-20483301