One Detroit recently interviewed Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, past candidate for Governor, but also an epidemiologist by training, as he is self-quarantining in his in-laws’ basement in Macomb County.
He says pandemics have hit the poor harder since the beginning of time, and talks about how health has been compromised in the city.
Why is Detroit a hot-spot? Higher rates of asthma living near heavy industry makes people more susceptible to COVID-19, with people’s lungs already compromised. It’s a short drive from Bloomfield Hills to downtown, but in that suburb, life expectancy is six years longer than in the city.
Some people have the advantage of being able to do better with social distancing. David Geffen can social distance on the ocean in his yacht. Detroiters might find themselves crammed into dwellings with many others.
He notes NBA players were able to get testing while health care workers on the front lines couldn’t.
Check out more about Abdul’s new book and podcast here: https://abdulelsayed.com/
>>>>>Why is Detroit a hot-spot? Higher rates of asthma living near heavy industry makes people more susceptible to COVID-19, with people’s lungs already compromised.
In the City of Detroit, the locations with the highest rates of adult asthma (2015 data downloaded from authorityhealth.org)……
http://www.sagady.com/stuff/MapoConditonsChronicDiseasesAdultAsthma.png
……and the locations with the highest rates of asthma hospitalizations for children and adults (see plates 12, 13 and 14):
http://caphedetroit.sph.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Final_Detroit-The-Epicenter-of-Asthma-Burden_2-29-2016.pdf
…..are all located a considerable distance from SW Detroit and its heavy industry in other parts of the City of Detroit.
The claim that the highest asthma rates are located in SW Detroit and/or in Detroit zip 48217 is a complete fabrication, urban myth and is without any basis. Moreover, the claim that Detroit’s asthma problem is mostly about air pollution causes is similarly a fabrication without any basis in public health data as can be seen from the above graphic map representations.
Asthma is a multi-factorial respiratory disease with multiple causes and exacerbating factors, and urban air pollution is just one such factor and frequently may not be the most important factor.
Telling asthma patients that coal fired power plants are causing their asthma problem when their clinical condition arises from other, more likely causes like exposure to mold, dust mite allergens, indoor air pollution, pet allergens and other factors is medical and public health malpractice. Some asthma patients’ conditions even arise from gastric esophageal reflux disease (GERD) or from hereditary immune system factors.
One common problem with asthma is that patients cannot access or otherwise do not receive regular medical care to keep their asthmatic condition under control and under medical surveillance, thus leading to catastrophic and life-threatening asthma attacks.
Unfortunately, the news media seems to want to continually spread a narrative that all asthma is based on air pollution as part of a political-generated narrative that does not have anything to do with actual medical realities. That proclivity for asthma disinformation should stop.