Vaccinate, boost, mask up
Living in NYC with air pollution
COURIER LIFE, D 24 ECEMBER 24-30, 2021
EDITORIAL
OP-ED
Feeling stressed out over
Omicron? Well you should
be. It’s a fast moving version
of COVID-19 spreading
through New York City like
wildfi re, coming amid a holiday
season that should otherwise
be joyous.
It’s left some feeling like
we’ve gone back to square one —
to the dark days of March 2020,
when COVID-19 fi rst arrived in
the Big Apple and we saw “the
city that never sleeps” fall into a
disturbing stillness while hundreds
of people fell to an enemy
we can’t see with the naked eye.
But this is not March 2020,
when we didn’t have a vaccine,
effective treatments, or even
a sound strategy for tackling
COVID-19. This is December 2021,
nearly two full years into the pandemic
— and we have the tools at
our disposal to beat COVID-19.
All we need to do is to use them
— all of us, regardless of who we
are or what we believe in.
If you’ve gotten both doses
of the COVID-19 vaccine and
the booster, great! The early
data about the Omicron variant
suggests that you have the best
chance of avoiding infection, or
suffering mild side effects if you
suffer a breakthrough case.
If you’ve gotten both vaccine
doses but not the booster, go get
the booster shot now. Amp up
your body’s defenses with Omicron
lurking around us.
If you haven’t gotten any
vaccine doses, or you only got
the fi rst dose, get moving. Become
fully vaccinated and get
the booster when you’re eligible.
It’s your best chance of staying
out of the hospital, or even
suffering a fatal infection.
The White House made it
bluntly clear on Sunday in a
statement about Omicron: “For
the unvaccinated, you’re looking
at a winter of severe illness
and death for yourselves, your
families, and the hospitals you
may soon overwhelm.”
If you don’t believe the White
House, then believe the city’s
Health Department. Their data
reveals that unvaccinated New
Yorkers are about 11 times more
likely to contract COVID-19 —
and about 13 times more likely
to wind up hospitalized — than
vaccinated New Yorkers.
Turn off cable news’ fearmongering
profi teers who spread
misinformation about the safety
of the COVID-19 vaccine. Unfollow
social media channels that
do the same. They’re killing people
with their nonsense.
This vaccine is not only safe,
but it’s also greatly effective at
saving lives. Go get it already!
We’re not going back to mass
shutdowns and social distancing.
We’re not going to ruin
businesses and economies because
of a virus we can now control
and stop. We know what to
do, so let’s get it done. Together.
Vaccinate, get boosters,
mask up!
BY ANDREA PARSONS
New York City is the melting
pot of the United States of America.
Generations of emigrants
have fought long and hard to
attain the American Dream.
Many families have crossed
into America via the high sea
on dinghies, steamers, smugglers
– hot, cramped, and airless
tractor trailers and jumping
over walls. Ellis Island and
Lady Liberty with open arms
welcome all immigrants. These
immigrants and their children
are unsure of where they would
settle to partake of the land of
milk and honey. However, Lady
Liberty holds with the light in
her hand, an open secret, the
bitter-sweet taste, the worm in
the Big Apple — Air Pollution.
One thing that the families
does not factor into part of
their American dream is the
acquisition of the malaise of
Air Pollution. The Big Apple
New York City is everyone’s
dream. It is the melting pot of
the United States of America.
As immigrants push into the
big city life, the high price paid
is deplorable living conditions
resulting in the absorption of
toxic air pollution.
Through the documentation
of the various eras of immigrants
and their living conditions
we can trudge through
the smog-fi lled history of living
“the American Dream” as an
immigrant child. Living conditions
of immigrants in the
Progressive Era (1890’s-1920’s)
in New York City were fraught
with poverty, overcrowding
and extreme air pollution crises.
The rise in the number of
cars and trucks in New York
City grew rapidly along with
multiple complex highways.
One result of the rapid increase
of motor vehicles was air pollution
which impacted the public’s
health and the environment.
The 1966 New York City
smog was a substantial air-pollution
event and environmental
disaster. Smog covered the city
and all areas from Nov. 23-26th,
enveloping the city’s air with
devastating levels of a variety of
toxic pollutants. Due to the former
smog event the Congress
of the United States of America
passed the landmark Clean Air
Act in 1970 and gave the newly
formed EPA the legal authority
to regulate pollution from cars
and other forms of transportation.
As generations immigrants
fl ooded New York City, the population
of children grew along
with poverty and poor air quality.
This growth moved within
the community of immigrants,
at an alarming rate affecting
their health to tremendous
proportions. Just as the immigrants
came with luggage so
to poverty came with the baggage
of decreased quality of life.
Overcrowding, inadequate water
supply, and poor air quality.
The lack of or nonexistent social
services and medical care,
served immigrant children
a daily portion of a surge in
bronchitis, asthma, and heart
disease.
According to The Journal of
Exposure Science & Environmental
Epidemiology, “Children
spent 90 percent of their time indoors
in proximity to sources of
particulate and gaseous air pollutants.”
Caregivers, shuffl ing
back and forth to their factories
and other jobs, inhaling the gaseous
fumes considered having
their children stay indoors as a
safety measure. Alas, the great
indoors, the “safety measure”
was fraught with signifi cant indoor
dangerous sources of lung,
heart, and brain destroyers.
These sources include cooking,
cleaning and candle/incense
burning.
The journey of immigrant
children and their caregivers
was it worth its weight in gold?
The land of Milk and Honey,
the Big Apple, is it worth the
danger to itself and others?
Is the dream of a better life, a
dream of hope or a nightmare
to the health, quality of life, and
life span which is cut short by
air pollution and the effects?
Learning disabilities, missing
out on learning opportunities,
was it worth the dangers, toil,
and snares?
After the various eras has
come and gone, the power of
poor air quality still holds a
tight grip on the lives of immigrant
children. The conductors
of Overcrowding, poverty,
inadequate water supply, partners
with poor air quality and
marches on to the beat of their
own drum, waving a fl ag of
warning to clean up the air or
history will continue to repeat
itself with immigrant children
living in New York City.
Andrea Parsons is a student
at SUNY Downstate Health University
Brooklyn, currently pursuing
a Master Degree in Public
Health.
Smoke rises from a factory. REUTERS/Marko Djurica