ER Visits for Asthma in New York City Soared as Wildfire Smoke Blanketed the Region
Inside Climate News
By: Gina Jimenez
Historically, Black communities have been pushed to live in neighborhoods with fewer green spaces and more hazardous environmental exposures, which have been shown to trigger asthma. In 2020, one paper found rates for emergency department visits due to asthma were 2.4 times higher in historically redlined neighborhoods in California compared to those that were not redlined.
The same trends plague New York. Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx are typically responsible for a large proportion of asthma emergency room visits and hospitalizations, according to Columbia Public Health. Last Wednesday, the Bronx represented around 27 percent of the asthma-related ER visits, despite having only 16 percent of the population.
