COVID-19 Deaths More Frequent In Regions with High Air Pollution Levels
New research finds that high levels of pollution are closely associated with COVID-19 deaths. In a new study that examined 66 administrative regions in France, Italy, Spain, and Germany, researcher Yann Ogen found that 78% of deaths occurred in just 5 regions. These regions had the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions, a gas that accumulates as vehicle emissions get trapped by weather conditions. The gas causes an increased likelihood of respiratory problems like wheezing coughs, colds and flu, lung infections, and bronchitis.
The results indicate that long-term exposure to this pollutant may be one of the most important contributors to fatality caused by the Covid-19 virus in these regions and maybe across the whole world…Poisoning our environment means poisoning our own body, and when it experiences chronic respiratory stress its ability to defend itself from infections is limited.”
Other research has found that air pollution is a potential risk factor for coronavirus in another way. Italian researchers have identified a gene-specific to COVID-19 in outdoor air pollution samples from the Bergamo province in Italy. The study has not been peer-reviewed. Additional research has found that COVID-19 can survive up to three hours suspended in airborne droplets.
Economic Recession Will Likely Kill More Children Than Total Coronavirus Death Toll
The pandemic is real, but the puppet masters of the world are using this situation for abhorrent and frightening power grabs, leaving people seemingly helpless to do anything about it while we are told to “shelter in place” as our rights get stripped away. It’s very convenient for those in power, and it’s frightening what they’re getting away with.
We are addressing this pandemic all wrong.
People with compromised immune systems should be taking precautions while the rest of the world builds immunity. The government should be pushing for the population to make healthier, safer lifestyle choices and this should be a huge reminder to us all that both how we take care of our environment and how we talk care of our bodies is paramount. And on that note, as necessary as they may be in some situations, wearing a face mask for long periods of time really isn’t good for you. This whole face-mask obsession could end up causing a lot of illness as well as environmental problems. I’m not recommending wearing face masks. I’m not recommending not to wear them. It’s complicated.
On the other hand, it’s fascinating to see what’s happening, and there’s lots of good news resulting from the way we are “sheltering in place.” The environment is showing signs of remarkable resiliency, people are generally eating much better (restaurant food is really bad for you), homeschooling is the new normal, we’re finally taking a serious look at how we’ve set up “capitalism” and what it means for us in such dire times, and it’s really just a fascinating experiment at a time when we need to look hard at these issues.
But this perspective comes from a place of immense privilege. All across the world business and schools and daycares are closed, incomes have stopped, people are hungry, family members are stuck with abusive family members at such incredibly stressful times, and so much more. The reaction to the pandemic is ruining a lot of lives right now. Even if everything were to get better from today on and just go back to normal, the reverberations would still last a very long time. And this is mostly due to how poorly the U.S. and many other governments are handling the situation.
Hundreds of thousands of children could die this year due to the global economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and tens of millions more could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis, the United Nations warned on Thursday.”
It’s likely that more people will die from the economic collapse of our financial system than from the virus itself. That’s not to say that the measures taken are pointless. It’s hard to know for sure, but it’s possible that if we had gone about business-as-usual we likely would have endured far more deaths and economic destruction than we’re dealing with now. Also, you never know how seriously a novel pathogen can impact us until it does. So it’s pretty hard to justify lax measures.
The estimate could be low. The risk report included that nearly 369 million children who normally rely on school meals for daily nutrition no longer have this as an option. According to the UN, malnutrition is still the leading cause of death in the world today. The foreseen is being considered, but there’s also going to be a heck of a lot of unforeseen in this very novel, globally-connected situation we’re in now.
The potential losses that may accrue in learning for today’s young generation, and for the development of their human capital, are hard to fathom. More than two-thirds of countries have introduced a national distance learning platform, but among low-income countries, the share is only 30 percent.
We’re radically underestimating the number of coronavirus cases but with that, we’re also radically underestimating the numbers of people who have gotten the virus, recovered, and developed antibodies.
A coronavirus vaccine is not going to work any better than the flu vaccine works, which is to say it will make pharmaceutical companies a lot of money only to damage a lot of people. There are multiple reports of people getting the virus more than once and we now know the virus has mutated at least twice. Whether or not the virus was made in a lab or is a result of environmental destruction, more is sure to come. We need a totally different approach for the economy, the environment, and our health. Allopathic medicine, our profit-driven pharmaceutical system, and our economic system are showing everyone around the world that there needs to be a better way, for our health and the environment.
Under the current system, if I ruled the world, but if I only had a conventional understanding of health, I would implement free healthcare to everyone, a UBI of 80% of everyone’s income up to 100,000 a year, paid weekly via direct deposit or debit card or cash (no restrictions that disproportionately affect poor or minorities).
Small businesses should be able to apply for loans and grants should be available for the ones that are trying to do the work that most needs to be done (like medical and environmental for instance).
Big businesses should be left to file for bankruptcy and have to restructure and get more component CEOs who like to save money for such instances instead of continually relying on government bailouts.
We should be making sure everyone has access to raw, fresh, healthy, organic produce. People should start growing as much of their own food as they can, and the government should be helping to facilitate this as well as helping get the food we currently have to the people who need it.
There should be educational campaigns about how people should take care of themselves.
But none of this would really be necessary if we already knew how to take care of ourselves. The virus is rarely if ever killing healthy people. If it did, it would exhaust it’s host supply too quickly and be far less likely to be an epidemic. Ideally, the immunocompromised would be told to shelter in place, wear masks for short periods of time if they must go out, wash their hands obsessively while out, etc. Grocery stores would know how to reduce transmission and would be disinfecting properly. Then we wouldn’t need an economic shutdown.
We really shouldn’t even worry so much about “germs.” We should be taking better care of ourselves and doing what Sweden is doing to build up herd immunity.
What Am I doing?
My family and I are fortunate, so far, due to the nature of the businesses we are involved in, and the fact that we were already growing our own food and homeschooling our kids.
We have started an urban farm, both to feed us and for the whole neighborhood.
We have to take certain sanitization measures with our businesses, with which we are using a spray of 65% alcohol and 35% industrial strength vinegar. But other than that, we’re doing our normal thing of eating salads and drinking cranberry lemonade every day. We are sure to have on stock Echinacea, Shillington’s Blood Detox, reishi mushroom, and our favorite root cider. If we were to feel a tickle in the through or a snuffy sinus we’d take them all until symptoms are gone, but we haven’t had any such issues. Our gut health is as good as it gets, and this is absolutely paramount when it comes to staying healthy. For more on supplements for coronavirus, click here.
Keystone XL Pipeline Permit Canceled by Federal Judge in Montana
A Montana-based judge has canceled a key permit needed by the Keystone XL pipeline. Federal judge Brian Morris ruled in favor of environmental conservation groups by revoking the projects’ Nationwide Permit 12, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had not adequately considered endangered species in the waterways the pipeline would cross. Senior Attorney for the Sierra Club, Doug Hayes, issued a statement.
The Trump administration has repeatedly violated the law in their relentless pursuit of seeing this dirty tar sands pipeline built…Today’s ruling confirms, once again, that there’s just no getting around the fact that Keystone XL would devastate communities, wildlife, and clean drinking water…It was true a decade ago, and it’s just as true today: Keystone XL would be a bad deal for the American people and should never be built.”
There are more hearings scheduled for this week, with Judge Morris listening to arguments from Native American peoples, who have been on the front lines of pipeline protests since Congress’ approval of the project in 2015. Judge Morris has ruled in favor of conservation before, halting construction on the pipeline in 2018 until further environmental study could be done. Environmental concerns continue to be a key part of the discussion surrounding the Keystone XL pipeline, despite the current administration’s repeated efforts to ignore them.
The Trump Administration’s ongoing effort to give out goodies to Big Oil hit another setback. Whether they like it or not, the Corps cannot skirt foundational environmental laws. And projects like the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will remain stalled as long as the Administration keeps trying to illegally fast-track them…”
This ruling has not canceled the pipeline project. According to the court documents filed by TC Energy, the company sponsoring the Keystone XL, work at camps in Montana and South Dakota could start this month.
US Airlines Fly Nearly Empty Flights to Keep 50 Billion Bailout
Worldwide air travel volume is down with more than 8 in 10 flights canceled. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the United States has reported a 96% drop in airline passenger volume and passenger levels are at their lowest since 1954. In spite of this, airlines in the U.S. have only canceled about 60 percent of their flights.
The evidence suggests that the number of people flying is dropping faster than the flights so there are a lot of empty planes…The airlines are left to figure this out for themselves and they are playing catch-up.”
Many of these flights are mandatory, courtesy of the recent government bailout. The airline industry has been promised 50 billion of the 2 trillion dollar stimulus, also known as the CARES Act. Airline carriers are required to preserve air service as it had been on March 1, 2020. These measures are designed to ensure customers in less busy or profitable locales will be able to travel, but the environmental cost does not seem to have been part of the discussion.
The Unexpected Environmental Impact of Coronavirus
While much of the human population is inside quarantining, skies are clearing up, water is less polluted, and the Earth is making small recoveries from the damages caused as a result of day to day life. The COVID-19 pandemic could result in one of the greatest drops in carbon emissions in history. The last significant drop in global emissions was in 2009 after the recession and the last drop in emissions of this magnitude was seen at the end of World War 2.
Four billion people worldwide are being told to shelter in their homes, the world economy has stalled, and scientists are anxiously awaiting what could be one of the largest drops in carbon emissions in history.
Some scientists say it’s still too early to expect a significant change while others say we could see an emissions drop of more than 5%. Emissions from transportation make up around 14% of global emissions and in some states, city traffic has decreased by more than 30%. Additionally, air pollution in some of the countries’ most polluted cities, Los Angeles and Seattle have seen a significant drop.
The short-term implications are much easier to see. Many of the behaviors people have given up — like driving to work everyday or taking international flights — are extremely carbon intensive
While the pandemic has some unforeseen environmental benefits, there are also many drawbacks. Due to the large quantities being used, masks and gloves that are not properly disposed of are washing up on ocean shores. Additionally, the EPA and the Trump Administration have made cutbacks to environmental regulations for the time being. Also, planes are still flying even when they’re nearly empty.
New Research Shows Air Pollution Linked to Higher CoVID-19 Death Rates
A recent study from Harvard research has shown that air pollution in the US is linked to higher death rates of CoVID-19. Research shows that people who live in counties with high levels of PM 2.5 were 15% more likely to die from CoVID-19.
PM 2.5 is an invisible pollutant made up of microparticles that can seep into the lungs and bloodstream. PM 2.5 comes from burning wood and coal, power plants, and automobile exhaust. It is considered one of the most dangerous invisible pollutants, and high levels have been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and chronic bronchitis as well as other respiratory illnesses. All of these conditions are underlying conditions that can make CoVID-19 fatal. An estimated 78% of US patients in the ICU from CoVID-19 have underlying health conditions.
Polluted air is linked to some of the underlying conditions that make COVID-19 more fatal. Seventy-eight percent of U.S. patients who have ended up in intensive care units from COVID-19 have underlying health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, or chronic lung disease.
A study done in Italy has found similar results, linking air pollution to chronic respiratory conditions. Additionally, research done in 2003 in China showed a correlation between air pollution and death from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which is closely related to CoVID-19.
…it is well known that pollution impairs the first line of defense of upper airways, namely cilia (Cao et al., 2020), thus a subject living in an area with high levels of pollutant is more prone to develop chronic respiratory conditions and suitable to any infective agent
Despite the links of air pollution to CoVID-19 deaths, both the Trump administration and the EPA have cut back on environmental regulations in the midst of the ongoing pandemic. The EPA has announced that it would be letting factories and power plants, as well as other similar facilities, regulate themselves in the middle of the pandemic. The EPA will no longer issue fines for water, air or hazardous waste violations. Some states have discouraged or banned the use of reusable bags. Other states have passed laws to penalize pipeline protestors. Along with the EPA, the Trump administration has said they will no longer expect corporations to comply with pollution reporting or routine monitoring and that they will not be pursuing penalties for breaking these laws.
COVID-19 Lockdown Potentially Contributing to a Decrease in Seismic Noise
In light of the current pandemic, human activity and a large portion of transportation have been shut down. New research, from experts who study Earth’s movements, has indicated that shutdowns have resulted in a significant drop in seismic activity.
Campo Dei Fiori Square is seen empty on March 10, 2020 in Rome, Italy Campo Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images
Data from a seismometer at the observatory show that measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Brussels caused human-induced seismic noise to fall by about one-third”
Thomas Lecocq, seismologist, the Royal Observatory of Belgium
Seismic noise is the hum of vibrations within Earth’s crust. Earthquakes cause the Earth’s crust to vibrate, but on a day to day basis vehicles and industrial machines also add to vibrations. These day to day vibrations create background noise which can impair seismologists’ ability to detect other signals that occur at the same frequency. A decrease in seismic noise could allow detectors to recognize smaller earthquakes and increase efforts to monitor other seismic events such as volcanic activity.
If lockdowns continue in the coming months, city-based detectors around the world might be better than usual at detecting the locations of earthquake aftershocks”
Andy Frassetto, a seismologist at the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology in Washington DC
This research comes from Brussels and similar changes have been found in a station in Los Angeles. It’s estimated that not every monitoring station will see a significant difference in activity. Certain stations are located in remote areas to avoid human vibrations.
