Health – Happiness – Page 223

Biden EPA Bans Chemical Pesticide Linked to Psychological Health Disorders in Children

New American Journal

Biden EPA Bans Chemical Pesticide Linked to Psychological Health Disorders in Children

By Glynn Wilson August 19, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Millions of children just in the United States have been diagnosed with some form of attention deficit disorder and/or hyperactivity disorder by psychiatrists and psychologists, and are often treated with pharmaceutical medication or behavioral therapy.

But what if these problems are not genetic or cultural psychological issues, but caused by chemicals children are exposed too in industrial society?

Farmers have been spraying chlorpyrifos on food crops such as strawberries, apples, citrus fruits, broccoli and corn since 1965. But studies now show this pesticide is inked to neurological damage in children, including reduced IQ, loss of working memory, and attention deficit disorders.

While the Trump administration fought to keep it in use, the Biden administration just announced it would be banned in food from now on after a court ruling forced the Environmental Protection Agency to provide proof of the chemical’s safety or regulate it out of existence.

This week the EPA issued a final ruling saying chlorpyrifos can no longer be used on the food that makes its way onto American dinner plates, a regulatory action intended to protect children and farmworkers, according to a press release from the agency.

In a statement announcing the decision, EPA Administrator Michael Regan called it “an overdue step to protect public health from the potentially dangerous consequences of this pesticide.”

“After the delays and denials of the prior administration, EPA will follow the science and put health and safety first,” Regan said.

Health, environment and labor organizations have been waging a campaign to revoke the use of chlorpyrifos for years. The EPA was considering a ban under the Obama administration, but under Trump, the agency concluded there wasn’t enough evidence showing the harmful effects of the chemicals on humans and kept it on the market.

That decision set off a series of legal challenges. Back in April, a federal appeals court ruled the decision was up to the EPA to produce indisputable proof that the pesticide is safe for children. If the agency failed to comply by Aug. 20, the judge said, then the food growers would be barred from using it.

In addition to use on farms, chlorpyrifos is one of several common household chemicals employed to try keeping ants, roaches, termites and mosquitos out of homes.

“It took far too long, but children will no longer be eating food tainted with a pesticide that causes intellectual learning disabilities,” said Patti Goldman, an attorney for Earthjustice, which represents health, environment and labor organizations behind the lawsuit. “Chlorpyrifos will finally be out of our fruits and vegetables.”

The Natural Resources Defense Council similarly cheered the EPA’s move, but cautions that the pesticide can still be used on other things, including cattle ear tags. The group wants a ban on other organophosphate pesticides, which are in the same chemical family as chlorpyrifos.

The new rule will take effect in six months.

In studies cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children exposed to high chlorpyrifos are significantly more likely to experience Psychomotor Development Index and Mental Development Index delays, attention problems, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder problems, and pervasive developmental disorder problems.

The estimated number of children diagnosed with ADHD, according to a national 2016 parent survey, is 6.1 million, or 9.4 percent of all children in the U.S. This number includes 388,000 children between the ages of 2–5 years, another 2.4 million between the ages of 6 and 11, and 3.3 million from 12–17. Boys are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls (12.9% compared to 5.6%).

Many children with ADHD are also often diagnosed with other mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders.

About 5 in 10 children with ADHD had a behavior or conduct problem, according to surveys. About 3 in 10 children with ADHD suffered from anxiety. These same children often suffer as well from depression, autism spectrum disorder, and Tourette syndrome.

About 3 out of 4 children in the U.S. diagnosed with ADHD receive some form of treatment, 62 percent taking ADHD medication. Another 47 percent receive behavioral treatment

This has a major impact on the health care field. In studies from 2008–2011, children between the ages of 2 and 5 covered by Medicaid were twice as likely to receive clinical care for ADHD compared with similar-aged children covered by commercial employer-sponsored insurance. About 3 in 4 of these who had clinical care for ADHD recorded they received ADHD medication in their healthcare claims from 2008–2014. Fewer than half received any form of psychological services.

According to breaking news coverage of EPA’s announcement by The New York Times, chlorpyrifos is one of the most widely used pesticides commonly applied to corn, soybeans, apples, broccoli, asparagus and other produce.

The EPA decision follows an order in April by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that directed the agency to halt the agricultural use of the chemical unless it could demonstrate its safety. Labor and environmental advocacy groups estimate that the decision will eliminate more than 90 percent of chlorpyrifos use in the country.

In an unusual move, the new chlorpyrifos policy will not be put in place via the standard regulatory process, under which the EPA first publishes a draft rule, then takes public comment before publishing a final rule. Rather, in compliance with the court order, which noted that the science linking chlorpyrifos to brain damage is over a decade old, the rule will be published in final form, without a draft or public comment period.

“The announcement is the latest in a series of moves by the Biden administration to re-create, strengthen or reinstate more than 100 environmental regulations,” gutted by the Trump administration, according to the Times.

The pesticide has been linked in studies to lower birth weights, reduced IQs and other developmental problems in children. Studies traced some of those health effects to prenatal exposure to the pesticide.

“Pesticides like chlorpyrifos haunt farm workers, especially parents and pregnant women,” said Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic campaigns for United Farm Workers of America, one of the groups on the petition. “They don’t hug their kids until they change clothes, they wash their laundry separately. When they miscarry, or when their children have birth defects or learning disabilities, they wonder if their work exposures harmed their children.”

Several states — including California, Hawaii, New York and Maryland — have banned or restricted the use of chlorpyrifos, and the attorneys general of those states, as well as those of Washington, Vermont and Massachusetts, joined the petition.

The Obama administration began the process of revoking all uses of the pesticide in 2015 but, in 2020, the Trump administration ignored the recommendations of EPA scientists and kept chlorpyrifos on the market.

“It is very unusual,” Michal Freedhoff, the EPA assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention, said of the court’s directive. “It speaks to the impatience and the frustration that the courts and environmental groups and farmworkers have with the agency.”

“The court basically said, ‘Enough is enough,’” Ms. Freedhoff said. “Either tell us that it’s safe, and show your work, and if you can’t, then revoke all tolerances.”

The decision is expected to lead to criticism by the chemical industry and farm lobby, which worked closely with the Trump administration ahead of its decision to keep chlorpyrifos in use.

“The availability of pesticides, like chlorpyrifos, is relied upon by farmers to control a variety of insect pests and by public health officials who work to control deadly and debilitating pests like mosquitoes,” said Chris Novak, the chief executive of CropLife America, an agricultural chemical company, at the time of Trump’s decision.

Pesticide products that include chlorpyrifos include the brands Hatchet, manufactured by Dow AgroSciences; Eraser, manufactured by Integrated Agribusiness Professionals; and Govern, manufactured by Tenkoz.

Chlorpyrifos will still be permitted for nonfood uses such as treating golf courses, turf, utility poles and fence posts as well as in cockroach bait and ant treatments.

In a withering attack on the Trump EPA, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Ninth Circuit wrote on behalf of the court that, rather than ban the pesticide or impose restrictions, the agency “sought to evade, through one delaying tactic after another, its plain statutory duties.”

According to additional coverage in The Washington Post, the regulation to curtail use of the potent insect-killing chemical on food overturns a 2017 decision by then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to keep the pesticide on the market despite a recommendation by the agency’s scientists to restrict it, given its potential risks.

“For a half-century, chlorpyrifos has proved effective in keeping all sorts of pests off soybeans, almond trees, cauliflower and other crops. Farmers often deploy it when no other pesticide can do the job,” the newspaper reports. “But for the past decade, environmental, labor and public-health groups have clamored for phasing out the pesticide, which can lead to headaches or blurred vision when inhaled or ingested. Some studies of families in apartment buildings found that exposure during pregnancy led to memory loss and other cognitive issues in children.”

Claudia Angulo, a farmworker who came from Mexico to work the citrus and broccoli fields in California’s San Joaquin Valley, was pregnant when she was exposed to chlorpyrifos. She blames the pesticide for her son Isaac’s developmental delays, after the chemical showed up in tests on his hair.

“It’s affecting a lot of families. We’re all being affected, either with allergies or some with disabilities,” said Angulo, who is now part of a class-action lawsuit. “As a mother, I’m still struggling and won’t stop until this pesticide is not harming kids.”

In one study, Impact of prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure on neurodevelopment in the first 3 years of life among inner-city children, scientists concluded:

“Results: Highly exposed children (chlorpyrifos levels of >6.17 pg/g plasma) scored, on average, 6.5 points lower on the Bayley Psychomotor Development Index and 3.3 points lower on the Bayley Mental Development Index at 3 years of age compared with those with lower levels of exposure. Children exposed to higher, compared with lower, chlorpyrifos levels were also significantly more likely to experience Psychomotor Development Index and Mental Development Index delays, attention problems, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder problems, and pervasive developmental disorder problems at 3 years of age.”

In addition to being banned in California, Hawaii, New York, Maryland, and Oregon, Canada and the European Union are already phasing out the insecticide on farms.

But federal regulators previously struck deals with chemical manufacturing companies to limit the use of chlorpyrifos for killing termites and several pests in homes, treating golf courses, and for growing cotton. The EPA will make a decision on whether to continue to allow for those and other nonfood uses by the end of next year.

According to the agency, the U.S. has a safe and abundant food supply, and children and others should continue to eat a variety of foods, as recommended by the federal government and nutritional experts. Washing and scrubbing fresh fruits and vegetables will help remove traces of bacteria, chemicals and dirt from the surface. Very small amounts of pesticides that may remain in or on fruits, vegetables, grains, and other foods decrease considerably as crops are harvested, transported, exposed to light, washed, prepared and cooked.

In obituary for a vaccinated man, daughters share anger — and a plea

Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, Fla.

In obituary for a vaccinated man, daughters share anger — and a plea

Claire McNeill, Tampa Bay Times August 19, 2021

Danielle Allen sifted through the files on her dad’s computer. She’d already gone through his eyeglasses, his printed-out jokes, his binder of Garfield clippings. She’d held the T-shirts he’d worn since they were kids. Her sister Nicole Allen-Gentile had packed up his scooter, which he’d used to visit a nature preserve during the long pandemic days. They knew he didn’t want a service. But in the packet titled “Stuff to Do Upon the Death of Clark Allen,” it became clear that an obituary mattered very much.

He left a draft. It began, Clark R. Allen of Delray Beach, Florida, passed away on ____ __, _____ at the age of __.

He’d moved last summer into assisted living, so his daughters changed the city to Lantana. They filled in July 22, 2021, and the age of 84.

The rest of their dad’s draft obituary outlined the proper nouns of his life: the jobs and boards and schools. What about the guy who kept a spreadsheet of every family pet’s birthday? They needed to say something, too, about the way he died. What they had witnessed in Florida.

Nicole emailed Danielle a furious start.

Clark died of Covid. <insert info about being vaccinated but an unvaxed person killing him>

At the Carlisle

Photo of The Carlisle Palm Beach - Lantana, FL, United States. Entrance

Clark Allen had taken the virus seriously. Nicole mailed him gloves and masks. He stayed close to home and paged through the New York Times and the Palm Beach Post. His damaged lungs from decades with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease had heightened COVID-19′s threat.

His expansive oceanside life as a Florida retiree — where the warmth let him umpire youth baseball year-round — shriveled into the confines of his apartment.

Clark began sitting around, cooking less. He let go of his careful bookkeeping. The plan had always been to move him up north, into assisted living near Nicole — eventually. But now, with his blessing, his family found a place along the familiar coast.

On the walls at the Carlisle Palm Beach, apartment 432, he hung framed photos of his seven kids and their weddings and travels. On the fridge, he tacked newspaper clippings, like highlights from Danielle’s ice hockey games. When the place wasn’t locked down, he found a bridge group and scooted across the street for Butterfingers to stock the freezer.

He wore a mask, he told his two youngest daughters, except in the dining room. He knew he was vulnerable, and he desperately wanted to see his grandkids again. In Oregon, 33-year-old Danielle, a massage therapist, scrolled the news and worried. In Connecticut, Nicole, now 38, and a public librarian, did the same — until Clark got the Pfizer vaccine this winter. Then worry coexisted with a huge dose of relief.

He emailed and called near-weekly as he always had, reluctant to talk about himself per usual, instead wanting family updates, happy to hear of his children’s vaccinations. If he ever went quiet, they knew his bad lungs were acting up.

In early July, he confessed to Danielle that he was having a hard week. And on July 8, Nicole got a call. Clark was in the hospital.

Sports and squirrels

Clark was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1937, the son of Carroll and Edna Allen.

Danielle and Nicole left in the reference to his high school, where he had captained track and field. They kept his editorship of the Springfield College paper and yearbook, and the mention of the school radio station.

They kept the Marine Corps Platoon Leaders course and the EMT training and the stint covering sports for the Washington Post. As for his work, they trimmed until they wrote of “his life-long career in advertising and marketing for consumer packaged goods.”

He had been proud of his life. He’d provided. But Danielle and Nicole wanted to weave in a few things that had brought their dad joy.

Where he mentioned his “second career” as referee, his daughters wrote, Clark loved all things sports.

Where he mentioned his work clerking for Palm Beach County elections, they remembered his unfailing reminders of their civic duties. They wrote, Clark firmly believed in everyone’s right to vote and in the democratic process.

They thought of the way he had sent them photos of every creature to grace his porch. The lizards, he named Iggy, squirrels he called Homer or Gus, depending on their color.

Nicole wrote, It cannot go unmentioned how much Clark enjoyed animals.

Fighting for his life

At JFK Medical Center, Clark struggled for breath. A nurse told Danielle that Clark had tested positive for COVID-19 — their first breakthrough patient, the nurse said.

Nicole quickly called the Carlisle but didn’t hear back, so she emailed. “He is vaccinated, but I know the current data says you can still get and possibly transmit the disease. Please let me know if I should be alerting anyone else at the facility,” she wrote.

A staffer replied: “It could be a result of the vaccine itself. I hope he’s ok and I will let our wellness director and executive director know.”

Stunned, Nicole replied with a link to CDC evidence. “Vaccines cannot cause a positive test,” she wrote. “The facility should consider that the virus may be circulating among its staff and residents.”

The Carlisle employee said she was taking the situation “very seriously.”

A spokeswoman for the Carlisle’s ownership group, Senior Living, did not respond to questions from the Tampa Bay Times, like the vaccination rate of its staff. A statement instead mentioned the group’s “enhanced efforts” to fight the virus. “The health of and communication to our residents and team members are our greatest priority,” the spokeswoman said in an email.

At first, it seemed, even doctors were surprised that Clark had tested positive. JFK staff wondered if his pulmonary disease was to blame. Because Clark was vaccinated, a nurse said, he should recover. A few days later, the hospital released him.

“I really wish the hospital would keep him a bit longer,” Nicole wrote to her siblings.

Within 12 hours, Clark was back in the emergency room and fitted with a BiPap mask that pumped oxygen into his lungs. Nicole and Danielle booked flights, though their dad said he worried about Florida’s caseload.

At an Airbnb, Danielle and Nicole called the hospital. They couldn’t advocate for their dad in person, but they left voicemails for his doctor. Once, for something to do, they brought cookies for the nurses. A front desk worker, confused about where to send the treats, told them that the hospital had just expanded from one COVID unit to two.

Clark texted sometimes.

Haven’t seen M.D. since shortly after return.

On Remdesivir, just finished CT scan. I’m exhausted but breathing easier.

Trump’s sending gallon of Clorox.

Hungry. Can’t have food. Nothing since Monday morning pancake.

Eventually, his texts grew sparse.

One day, they caught their dad on FaceTime while they were going through his things at the Carlisle. He had the BiPap mask on. He waved. His daughters began to cry, and he cried, too. They told him they loved him. They watched him grow agitated, until a nurse ended the call.

Should they go there?

How much of his political life to include, they weren’t sure. In New Jersey, he had led the state’s Young Republicans, which he’d noted in his draft. He’d sat on national party boards. He mailed Danielle — decidedly not a Republican — repurposed GOP Christmas cards that thanked him for donations to President Bush.

In recent years, he’d begun to feel betrayed. President Trump did not speak to his values. And in conversations with his daughters, he lamented his party’s pandemic response. “Our great Governor, Trump’s buddy, just stammers when asked questions,” Clark wrote in an email as Florida prepared to roll out vaccines. “He has no clue.”

His daughters debated writing about his change of heart. In his files, Danielle found plenty of strongly worded emails to Republican politicians, as well as the occasional vacuum company, that suggested he was not shy about his views. He had even switched to No Party Affiliation.

But they didn’t want to further politicize the vaccine.

They let it go unsaid.

In the end

As the Florida days stretched out, Nicole and Danielle called siblings and called nurses.

They stopped talking about long-term care.

At the Carlisle, where they tended to his apartment, two residents came up to Danielle. Both knew Clark, but neither knew he’d tested positive for the virus nearly a week earlier.

Among staff and residents, masks appeared rare.

Danielle and Nicole had eaten up all of the headlines, like this from the AARP: Only 2 in 5 Florida Nursing Home Workers Vaccinated Against COVID-19.

They’d read emails from their dad about where he lived, describing his quest for pandemic-related information only to find absent nurses, scarce memos and a blank TV channel. A typical subject line: It would be funny if it were not so sad.

They’d heard the announcement that vaccinated people could also spread the disease, but they don’t believe that’s what happened in this case.

Was it a dining room server? A nurse?

The vaccine had given Clark a chance, but because of his health, it hadn’t caused a strong enough immune response, hospital nurses told them. And his lungs were too weak for a ventilator.

The ICU doctor said to think about hospice. The nurses told them of bad nights, of Clark ripping off IVs and his breathing machine. More than one nurse was near tears. The pulmonologist said it was time. Nurses said it was time. But then Nicole heard that Clark had sat up and drank ginger ale. She had to make the decision without being able to hold his hand.

Clark suffered, delirious, another night, while his daughters were caught in the mix of paperwork and permissions. Finally, on July 20, hospice took him in.

Nicole stood separated from him by a window. As he slept, she video called her siblings one by one, so they could say goodbye.

Choosing the right words

The obituary was something to do. The death certificate was slow to arrive from Florida, anyway, and while the family was making cremation plans, the funeral home director came down with the virus. Nicole emailed Danielle an early draft. Do not read if you are having a hard time, she wrote.

To Danielle, the first attempt read as too angry. She was angry. She’d just had to drop off her father’s glasses in a Walmart donation bin. She’d been crying in her car between massage clients, who couldn’t stop talking about the virus. And all of the stories emphasizing that vaccinated people rarely die of COVID-19 — which she knew was true — felt painful, like they erased her dad.

She knew he hadn’t had to die like this.

In early August, she received another draft from Nicole. Clark’s family urges everyone to get vaccinated to protect those who are still vulnerable.

Nicole proposed asking people to consider a donation to one of their dad’s favorite nonprofits, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Danielle emailed back an addition to thank the nurses, like the one who had played Patsy Cline in his hospital room.

Her dad had believed in the common good. She and Nicole had heard him tell stories of the sacrifices his family had made during the Great Depression and World War II. He’d wanted to donate his body to science, but COVID victims are not accepted. Instead, his children will split his ashes into seven.

Danielle rewrote the intro.

He was infected by someone who chose not to get vaccinated and his death was preventable.

It had pained him to see people acting without concern for their neighbors. Danielle and Nicole had agreed: If one person got vaccinated after reading his obituary, they knew he would be proud.

Danielle wrote, It is the wish of his family that everyone get vaccinated in order to prevent further death, sickness and heartbreak.

She took out heartbreak, then put it back in.

• • •

To read Clark Allen’s obituary in full, visit the Palm Beach Post.

ICU Doc Shows What ‘Anxious and Scared’ Gov. Greg Abbott Did After COVID-19 News

HuffPost

ICU Doc Shows What ‘Anxious and Scared’ Gov. Greg Abbott Did After COVID-19 News

Ed Mazza August 18, 2021

ICU doctor and NBC News analyst Vin Gupta is urging Texans to “take note” of the actions of Gov. Greg Abbott (R) after he tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday.

Abbott has actively thwarted efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic by banning mask and vaccine mandates.

Yet once he was infected, he was given Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment, despite being fully vaccinated and having no symptoms.

Gupta, a pulmonologist, tweeted:

COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed in Texas in recent weeks, from around 1,000 daily cases reported in early July to over 20,000 cases reported on Monday.

Despite those rising numbers, just 45% of the state is fully vaccinated, well below the U.S. average of 51%.

Abbott has also undermined efforts to slow the spread of the virus with his ban on mask mandates, and by going to court to uphold that ban.

NBC News reported on Tuesday that Abbott has told friends he has received a third dose of the vaccine.

Abbott’s positive test results came less than 24 hours after he attended a crowded GOP event and posted images online showing him at the largely mask-free gathering.

‘Please Don’t Leave Us Behind. We Will Be Great Americans.’

The Bulwark – Afghanistan

‘Please Don’t Leave Us Behind. We Will Be Great Americans.’

An interview with a U.S.-trained Afghan Air Force pilot, now hiding from the Taliban.

by The Editors August 16, 2021

‘Please Don’t Leave Us Behind. We Will Be Great Americans.’

Afghan Air Force pilots land their UH-60 Blackhawks on a narrow landing strip during a resupply mission to an outpost in Ghazni Province,

Afghanistan, Sunday, May 9, 2021. The Afghan Air Force, which the U.S. and its partners has nurtured to the tune of $8.5 billion since 2010, is now the government’s spearhead in its fight against the Taliban. Since May 1, the original deadline for the U.S. withdrawal, the Taliban have overpowered government troops to take at least 23 districts to date, according to local media outlets. That has further denied Afghan security forces the use of roads, meaning all logistical support to the thousands of outposts and checkpoints including re-supplies of ammunition and food, medical evacuations or personnel rotation must be done by air. (MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES)

As the world watched the United States pull out from Afghanistan and Taliban forces take over the country, we spoke by text message with an Afghan Air Force pilot, now in hiding along with several other pilots and hoping to be evacuated.

Who are you? Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

I was born in Kunar, Afghanistan and joined the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) in 2005. I’m married with seven beautiful children. Unfortunately, we are currently separated, because the Taliban took Kabul.

I’m at an undisclosed location with other Afghan Air Force (AAF) pilots, hiding from the Taliban. They are hunting us.

Actually, they’ve been hunting us for years, but this really increased over the last year. The AAF, along with the Afghan National Army Special Operations Corps (ANASOC), were the best fighters for the Afghan government. The AAF was very good. Because we were very good, the Taliban hunted us relentlessly over the last year. I lost many friends to Taliban assassins.

They’ve already executed a few pilots over the weekend.

What was your career with the Afghan Air Force like?

I was very proud to be an AAF pilot. I was a commander. I spent years in the United States, learning to speak English and going through undergraduate pilot training. I visited San Antonio, Fort Rucker, and a lot of other places, too. I like Texas the best. I thought the people were very friendly.

I started at the Defense Language Institute, then moved onto undergraduate pilot training, and then eventually more advanced pilot training for my aircraft. I have so many fond memories of my time in the United States. However, I loved working with my American Air Force advisors the most. They were incredible men and women. When they left [Afghanistan] in May, I was very scared that this day would come.

However, we fought for a long time, and it was the loss of the contractors that really hurt us. Although we have a lot of really good pilots, it takes a very long time to train maintainers. Although we had made great strides, especially with the Mi-17s, we weren’t ready to do it alone without the contractors. A lot of the American-made aircraft are very sophisticated and they take years of training to maintain them adequately.

What’s your current situation?

Like I said, I’m currently in hiding. We are hoping to get out. If we are not rescued, then the Taliban will execute us.

The AAF and the Afghan Special Operations Forces are not the same as regular rank-and-file soldiers. We are very well known. We were celebrated by the Afghan people, so everyone knows us. It’s a very big deal to be an Afghan pilot or a commando.

Anyway, we are hoping that the Americans will take us, and our families, to safety. We spent decades fighting alongside American forces.

Anything you want the American public to know?

Many Afghan soldiers died bravely. I’ve been fighting for over fifteen years. We did not all just give up and quit. Yes, some did. Once the Americans left, we weren’t ready to start doing all the logistics. The logistics, the maintenance, and corruption really hurt us.

I know people in the U.S. are upset that we didn’t fight longer. But we’ve been fighting for decades—and some of us, even longer. When the U.S. left, it really affected morale, especially how quickly it happened. We woke up one day, then Bagram was gone. Everyone got scared. It got out of control.

I’m mad at many of the senior leaders who lined their pockets and simply vanished from the country. However, thousands of Afghan officers were not responsible for that. We were simply doing the best we could.

There are a lot of Afghans who trusted the United States. Not just translators. Not just civil society activists, but also Afghan soldiers. We loved fighting alongside Americans.

Please don’t leave us behind. Please. We will be great Americans.

Raging wildfires linked to thousands of COVID-19 cases and hundreds of deaths in 2020, study says

USA Today

Raging wildfires linked to thousands of COVID-19 cases and hundreds of deaths in 2020, study says

Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY August 17, 2021

The record-setting 2020 wildfire season scorched millions of acres, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people and costing billions of dollars in insured losses.

But the damage didn’t stop there.

A study, published Friday in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, says thousands of COVID-19 cases and hundreds of deaths in California, Oregon and Washington state from March to December 2020 may be linked to wildfire smoke.

Researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health used a statistical model to measure the connection between high levels of fine particulate air pollution, or PM2.5, produced by the wildfires and the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in 92 counties.

They found a daily increase of 10 micrograms in PM2.5 per cubic meter of air for 28 days was associated with an 11.7% increase in COVID-19 cases and an 8.4% increase in death. Across the three states studied, researchers determined nearly 19,700 COVID-19 cases and 750 deaths were attributable to daily increases in PM2.5 from wildfires.

“The year 2020 brought unimaginable challenges in public health, with the convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and wildfires across the western United States,” said senior author Francesca Dominici, professor of biostatistics, population and data science at Harvard Chan School. “Climate change – which increases the frequency and the intensity of wildfires – and the pandemic are a disastrous combination.”

COVID-19 cases had the biggest increase in Sonoma County, California, and Whitman County, Washington – 65.3% and 71.6%, respectively – sites of the Glass Fire and Babb-Malden Fire.

The Glass Fire burned more than 67,000 acres in Napa and Sonoma counties in 2020, according to Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency . The Babb-Malden Fire burned more than 15,000 acres in Whitman County, KING-TV reported.

High levels of PM2.5 have been associated with a host of negative health outcomes, including premature death, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and other respiratory illnesses. Other studies have found a link between short- and long-term exposure to PM2.5 and COVID-19 cases and deaths.

“That small particle is small enough to burrow into the lung in a way that sets it up for any respiratory disease,” said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “It can burrow past the epithelium and create inflammation. It’s a setting for any respiratory disease, including COVID, to exacerbate.”

Wildfire smoke affecting your area? Here’s how to improve your home’s air quality

Dry, hot, windy: Explosive wildfires in Northern California could burn until winter

Wildfire smoke can temporarily compromise the immune system, said Dr. Kari Nadeau, director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma at Stanford University.

“When you breathe in smoke, those particulates get into the lungs … they can get into your bloodstream, and they damage your immune system,” she said. “COVID affects your immune system, your lungs and your blood vessels. So you’re getting doubled up targeting of these organs in a very pathological way. It’s like a double hit.”

Although the damage is typically reversible, Nadeau said, it can become permanent in residents who have lived for decades where wildfires are common and have been repeatedly exposed to high levels of PM2.5.

It isn’t just western Americans affected by wildfire smoke. A satellite video published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in July shows how smoke produced in the West blankets much of the USA and Canada.

This year’s fire season is on pace to race past 2020. As of Aug. 12, 6,272 fires in California have burned about 1,432 square miles, according to Cal Fire.

Health experts worry the wildfires may lead to another rise in coronavirus cases this year. Unvaccinated Americans make up more than 90% of COVID-19 hospitalizations, and if the body’s defenses are further weakened by smoke, they stand little chance against the highly contagious delta variant.

They urge Americans to not only protect themselves from COVID-19 but also from wildfire smoke by staying indoors and wearing N95 masks that help block PM2.5.

“We need to try to prevent the wildfires, and we need to prevent COVID, and luckily, we have that knowledge in our hands,” Nadeau said. “We just have to do something actionable about it.”

Contributing: David Benda and Mike Chapman, Redding Record Searchlight

Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.

Minn. Residents Warned They Might Need to Evacuate amid ‘Rapidly Growing’ Wildfire

People

Minn. Residents Warned They Might Need to Evacuate amid ‘Rapidly Growing’ Wildfire

People August 16, 2021

Superior National Forest Fire. *US Forest Service – Superior National Forest* Greenwood Fire.

As fire crews in Minnesota work to put out a “rapidly growing and spreading” wildfire in northeastern Minnesota, authorities are warning some local residents to prepare to evacuate.

According to Superior National Forest officials, the Greenwood Fire was first detected around 3 p.m. on Sunday near Greenwood Lake, which is about 15 miles southwest of Isabella township. At the time, officials estimated it was “a couple hundred acres” in size, noting that it was “moving quickly.”

“It is rapidly growing and spreading due to high winds and dry vegetation and has the potential to impact structures and recreation assets,” the Forest Service reported in an update hours later, according to MPR News.

Lake County Emergency Management Director Matt Pollmann said the fire was about 1,000 acres in size as of Monday morning, KARE reported.

A possible cause of the fire has yet to be announced.

As crews continue to try and suppress the fire from the ground and air, weather conditions threaten efforts to contain the blaze.

According to the National Weather Service, Monday’s forecast for northern Minnesota calls for low humidity and gusty winds — “near-critical fire weather conditions.”

Residents living in the McDougal Lake area have been told to prepare themselves for a potential evacuation, officials said in a release.

On Sunday night, Gov. Tim Walz announced he had authorized the Minnesota National Guard to provide wildfire support in Northern Minnesota.

“This summer, Minnesota has experienced abnormally high temperatures and a historic drought resulting in dry conditions conducive to wildfires. I am grateful to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for their tireless efforts to combat wildfires in our state,” he said in a statement. “The Minnesota National Guard’s additional support will be critical to responding to these wildfires and protecting the safety of Minnesotans and their property. I am proud that our Service Members have again answered the call to serve their fellow Minnesotans.”

Florida’s outdoor workers could lose billions as climate change makes it too hot to work

Miami Herald

Florida’s outdoor workers could lose billions as climate change makes it too hot to work

Alex Harris August 17, 2021

Climate change, if left unchecked, could make outdoor work in notoriously hot Florida even more unbearable and unhealthy, and a new report shows it could also make that work less profitable.

Under scenarios where the world doesn’t quickly cut fossil fuel emissions, there could be a full month of the year where it’s too hot to safely work a normal day outside in Florida. Right now, Florida experiences an average of five days like that a year.

“Between now and mid-century, outdoor workers’ exposure to extreme heat would quadruple,” said Kristina Dahl, senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists and co-author of the report. “That could put them in the position to increasingly choose between their health and their paychecks.”

Florida, the third-most populous state, has the third-largest population of outdoor workers. Those 2 million workers account for nearly a quarter of the state’s workforce and earn $56 billion a year.

Those earnings could be at risk in a future with more days where it’s too hot to work outside.

By the Union of Concerned Scientists’ calculations, Florida outdoor workers could lose up to $8.4 billion of those earnings by mid-century if no action is done to slow climate change. If the world acts slowly to lower fossil fuel emissions by that time, workers could lose less, around $6 billion.

The numbers grow more dire by century’s end. With continued slow action, workers could lose around $7.5 billion a year, versus double that amount with no action.

The only state with more potential earnings at risk is Texas.

As heat and humidity rise, the CDC recommends that employers provide more work breaks to avoid heat-related illness. However, reductions in work time would translate into losses in workdays (top map) and put workers’ earnings at risk (bottom). Florida, especially South Florida, ranks highly on both maps.

Per Florida worker, that breaks down to losing $3,743 a year in wages by mid-century if nothing is done to switch away from fossil fuels and $2,648 a year if slow action is taken.

Miami-Dade, Florida’s most populous county, has the most outdoor workers in the state — over 300,000.

Miami-Dade’s first Chief Heat Officer, Jane Gilbert, said she’s planning to host focus groups with outdoor workers and their employers to hear more about what conditions are like and how the county could possibly protect outdoor workers. So far, no one is talking about regulations for heat exposure for outdoor workers.

“Having something on the books that you cannot enforce doesn’t make sense,” she said. “I’d rather focus our resources on raising awareness, making employers aware of what their costs are and broader responsibilities to their workforce.”

She’s also talked with the National Weather Service about sending out more alerts for dealing with heat. This summer, cities from Seattle to Boston have issued heat advisories, but there have been none in Florida, despite record-breaking temperatures.

That’s because heat, like time, is relative.

The threshold for a heat advisory in Florida is a heat index (meaning temperature plus humidity, or “feels like”) of 108 degrees Fahrenheit for at least two hours. An “excessive” heat warning requires temperatures of 113 degrees.

“You can have pretty dangerous conditions over 100 heat index and they’re not even getting into advisories until 108,” she said.

Florida heat is already hard on outdoor workers. Climate change will raise health risks.

Dr. Ankush Bansal, co-chair of the Florida Clinicians for Climate Action and a doctor of internal medicine in a Palm Beach County hospital, said extreme heat can take a toll on the body. It affects the lungs, the heart and especially the kidneys.

In extreme cases, heat illness can lead to red or brown urine, the result of muscles in the body breaking down into pieces and clogging up the kidneys.

“What happens is, and I’ve seen this, people that work outside … even athletes … are coming into the hospital with heat exhaustion or even heat stroke, which if untreated can lead to death,” he said. “If you have heart disease or a history of heart failure, it can throw you over the edge. It can cause a heart attack.”

The military treats extreme heat as a matter of national security. It has strict rules and a flag-based system for warning soldiers how much strenuous activity they can safely do outside in order to keep military personnel safe and healthy.

Florida’s soldiers face more heat risk from climate change than any other state’s

The Union of Concerned Scientists report calculated the potential lost wages by using similar standards, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for worker safety on days when the heat index is at or over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The center suggests workers take a break for 15 minutes every hour in shade and drink water.

As the heat index rises, the recommended amount of outdoor work drops. At 104 degrees Fahrenheit, the CDC says workers should work 30 minutes and rest 30 minutes. When the heat index crosses 108 degrees Fahrenheit (the standard for a heat advisory in Florida), the CDC recommends no one work outside at all.

The report assumed those breaks were unpaid.

“It’s an assumption but it also reflects to some extent that some outdoor workers are paid annually, some are paid hourly and others are paid piece rate,” Dahl said.

Tree trimmers work along Southwest 13th Street in Fort Lauderdale to remove limbs damaged during Hurricane Irma, Sept. 18, 2017.

Piece rate workers can be paid per pound of fruit or vegetable they pick, per lawn they mow or other per task goal, and would potentially have the most to lose economically in a future where it’s physically unsafe to work outside sometimes.

That’s a present reality in Saudi Arabia, where outdoor work is banned from noon to 3 p.m. from June to September to protect workers from dangerous heat.

In hot places like Arizona or Florida, outdoor workers already adjust their schedules to survive the summer. Construction workers get going at dawn and take breaks when the noonday sun is hottest. Some contractors, like AC repair workers, avoid sending employees into sweltering attics for jobs that can be put off til the cooler months.

Those adjustments may become more common in the U.S. as the world warms, but for now, they’re solely at the discretion of the employer.

There is no nationwide protective standard for outdoor workers, although the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health developed standards in 2016 for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to take up, which it never did. OSHA’s general duty clause requires employers to provide a safe working environment, and it has some recommendations for working in extreme heat, but it’s tough to enforce a recommendation.

Veronica Custodio, 37, picks through spinach at her father’s farm in Homestead on May 27, 2020. The farm belongs to Juventino Custodio, 53, who was forced to let his spinach rot after the coronavirus pandemic caused a disruption in his supply chain process.

A survey of hundreds of nursery workers in Homestead by the organization WeCount! found that more than half said they weren’t allowed to rest in the shade, 15% said they weren’t provided water and 69% had experienced symptoms of heat illness.

Farmworkers told the WeCount! organizers they try not to drink water so they can avoid bathroom breaks and possibly missing production quotas.

Another study of farmworkers in Central and South Florida measured core body temperatures, heat rate and hydration levels. Half started the day dehydrated, and three-quarters finished that way. One in three of the workers had acute kidney injury at some point in the study.

So far, California and Washington have passed state-level heat protection laws for outdoor workers, but they have different standards, leading to unequal protections during this summer’s heat wave.

“If we leave it up to states to do individually, we’re going to end up with a real patchwork of protections for outdoor workers,” Dahl said.

Reducing workload and shifting outdoor work to cooler parts of the day can help, she said. “But since there are limits to those, we found our first line of defense has to be reducing emissions.”

If Florida and the rest of the world stop burning fossil fuels, the worst effects of climate change and extreme heat can be avoided.

Bansal said there’s a common analogy in the medical world when discussing treating symptoms versus cause that applies to climate change too. If a bathtub is overflowing and you’re only putting towels on the floor but never turning off the water, the problem will never be fixed.

“And that’s what we need to do, shut off the faucet,” he said.

Miami Herald intern Ariana Aspuru contributed to this story.

Parts of the US are getting dangerously hot. Yet Americans are moving the wrong way

The Guardian

Parts of the US are getting dangerously hot. Yet Americans are moving the wrong way

David Sirota and Julia Rock August 16, 2021

<span>Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA</span> — Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA

Science has provided America with a decent idea of which areas of our country will be most devastated by climate change, and which areas will be most insulated from the worst effects. Unfortunately, it seems that US population flows are going in the wrong direction – new census data shows a nation moving out of the safer areas and into some of the most dangerous places of all.

To quote Planes, Trains and Automobiles: we’re going the wrong way.

The Census Bureau’s new map of the last decade’s population trends shows big growth in the west and on the coasts – and declines in the inland east coast and Great Lakes region.

Now compare that map to ProPublica maps documenting the areas most at risk of extreme heat, wildfires and flooding, and you see the problem. While there has been some recent anecdotal evidence of pragmatic climate migration, overall the census data shows America’s population growth is shifting out of areas that may be the best refuges from the most extreme effects of climate change, and into many areas that are most at risk.

Put another way: if climate change were an enemy in a war, America is not fortifying our population in the safest places – the country’s population is moving into the areas most at risk of attack.

Some of the examples are genuinely mind-boggling. For instance, upstate New York is considered one of the country’s most insulated regions in the climate crisis – and yet almost all of upstate New York saw population either nearly flat or declining. At the same time, there were big population increases in and around the Texas Gulf coast, which is threatened by extreme heat and coastal flooding.

Similarly, Philadelphia is comparatively well situated in the climate crisis – but it saw only modest population growth of 5%. It was surpassed on the list of biggest cities by Phoenix, which saw an 11% population growth, despite that city facing some of the worst forms of extreme heat and drought in the entire country.

And then there is south Florida, which saw Miami clock in a 10% population increase despite the possibility that large swaths of the city could soon be underwater. Compare that to a place like Vermont, where the population growth was flat.

This isn’t to blame Americans for moving to climate-threatened regions – after all, population growth and decline is often driven by the quest for necessities such as affordable housing and jobs. But the census data illustrate a trend that has been exacerbated by public policy.

For instance, weak zoning and land-use laws have encouraged a population explosion in the fire-prone wildland-urban interface, areas near forests and other vegetation. Likewise, federal flood-insurance subsidies have encouraged continued construction in coastal areas threatened by flooding. And corporations have not yet been forced to disclose their climate risks to investors, which potentially allows them to make investment and location decisions without factoring in such vulnerabilities.

There are ways to change the policies – for instance there has been a push to change zoning laws in ways that discourage or prohibit construction in areas most prone to wildfires. In May, Joe Biden issued an executive order requiring federally funded infrastructure to take into account current and future flood risks during construction, and the Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing a rule to require climate risk disclosures from all public companies.

But, as the census data suggest, the Biden administration has a long way to go.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), which runs the national flood insurance program, has long been underfunded and mostly helps wealthy and white homeowners. Moreover, a recent Government Accountability Office report found that while Fema has good information about flood risk to homeowners, it has not acted on that information to encourage homeowners to buy flood insurance. The report called on Congress to update the mandatory purchase requirement for flood insurance.

Meanwhile, homeowners have struggled to access buyout funds for flood-prone properties, which crucially encourage people to move out of high-risk areas and reduce the costs of future cleanup after disasters. Some parts of California have considered using that Fema aid for buyouts in wildfire-prone areas.

This spring, Fema updated its methodology for pricing flood insurance to make it more equitable and adapt to climate change.

But, of course, many of the efforts to fix those policies – or at least force them to factor in climate risks – now face vociferous opposition from powerful Republicans in Washington.

They want to pretend that nothing must fundamentally change – even though we’re already seeing that everything is changing faster than ever.

David Sirota is a Guardian US columnist and an investigative journalist. He is an editor at large at Jacobin and the founder of the Daily Poster. He served as Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign speechwriter
Julia Rock is a staff writer at the Daily Poster
This article was originally published in the Daily Poster, a grassroots-funded investigative news outlet

Cover crop usage sets record as farmers see environmental, financial benefits

Herald Bulletin, Anderson, Ind.

Cover crop usage sets record as farmers see environmental, financial benefits

Andy Knight, The Herald Bulletin, Anderson, Ind. August 14, 2021

Aug. 14—FRANKTON — Most of the fields surrounding Mike Shuter’s farm in western Madison County had blossomed with corn and soybeans by early August.

But one, situated next to a winding driveway leading to the farmhouse, featured much smaller and less conspicuous greenery.

That 180-acre plot, Shuter said, is being used to grow buckwheat seed for use as a cover crop. Once fully grown — probably by early October — it will be harvested and replanted elsewhere to ensure that the microbes in the soil remain healthy, and that the soil itself will remain suitably porous throughout the winter months.

“It’s kind of an ongoing learning process,” said Shuter, the president of Shuter Sunset Farms, a fourth-generation family farm specializing in corn, beans, cattle and pork production. The operation covers about 3,000 acres in the northern and western parts of the county. “The more we understand about soil health and the microbes in the soil and how we’re helping them with cover crops, the deeper we get involved with it.”

Shuter and hundreds of other farmers across Indiana are integrating cover crops into their operations more than ever. According to a recent survey commissioned by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, the state’s farmers set a record this year by planting an estimated 1.5 million acres of cover crops, also known as overwinter living covers.

Cover crops are important, advocates say, because they promote a variety of environmental benefits. In addition to improving overall soil health by adding living roots to the soil over a greater time period each year, they also improve water filtration and increase organic matter in the soil. Some cover crops, such as legumes, also serve as natural fertilizers.

Shuter began experimenting with cover crops in 2009, and over the years he’s seen technology improve to a point where fine-tuning the ingredients in different herbicides is a more seamless process.

“Part of it was networking with other producers across Indiana and some other states and learning what their experiences have been,” he said. “We still try to network in and out, trying to help other producers understand what we’ve learned and still learning from some other good friends as well.”

By keeping roots in the ground throughout the winter, cover crops can also act as natural filters for ground water, which can prevent sediment from moving into nearby waterways, thus keeping the water supply cleaner.

“All those root channels help us capture those early spring rains,” said Jill Hoffmann, executive director of the White River Alliance, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit organization that promotes the improvement and protection of water resources in Central Indiana. “We’re also sequestering carbon, which helps us with climate change, and it helps the soil hold more water, so that can prevent loss during drought.”

The recent survey, conducted by the Indiana Conservation Partnership, estimated that 1.6 million tons of sediment was prevented from entering the state’s waterways. The practice of cover crop planting also kept approximately 4.1 million pounds of nitrogen and more than two million pounds of phosphorus out of lakes, rivers and streams, the study found.

“By increasing our cover crop practices, we are keeping Indiana waterways and soil healthier for future planting seasons and the next generation of farmers,” Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch said in a news release.

Shuter said he normally plants cereal rye ahead of soybeans and rye grass ahead of corn. He’s also taken part in crop study programs through the local Purdue Extension office, as well as other programs that have helped him refine his approach to using cover crops.

“We’ve had a few field days over the years where we talk about cover crops,” he said. “About 20% of our operation is organic now, and we’re using cover crops even more intensely in that. There’s a lot of things we’ve learned that we’ve been able to take advantage of in the years of experience we’ve got.”

In addition to environmental benefits including pollution prevention and carbon sequestration, conservationists say the practice also improves farmers’ bottom line.

“This year’s data may be surprising to some considering the tough farm economy this past year, but over time, our farmers have learned that incorporating a comprehensive management system into their operations that includes cover crops…helped improve the sustainability and productivity of their soils, said Indiana State conservationist Jerry Raynor. “As a result, farmers are sequestering more carbon, increasing water infiltration and improving wildlife and pollinator habitat — all while harvesting better profits and often better yields.”

Hoffmann said it’s encouraging to see many of the state’s farmers recognizing that they can play a role in preserving — and even bettering — the environment.

“As we look at the challenges that we’re facing environmentally, we all have our part to play,” she said. “To see farmers adopting these practices that not only benefit their operations, but also protect our water supply, it’s encouraging to me that they’re taking these actions.”

‘I can’t do it’: Portland residents battle grueling heat in unprecedented summer

The Guardian

‘I can’t do it’: Portland residents battle grueling heat in unprecedented summer

Dani Anguiano in Portland August 14, 2021

Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Reuters

“No, no, no,” Linda Longoria cried as she heard the weather forecast for Portland, Oregon on Friday: 100F (38C). “I can’t do it. Even in the shade it’s so humid.”

Longoria, 65, and her son are homeless and stay in hotels when they can but sometimes are forced to sleep outdoors. A lifelong resident of the city, she shook her head: “A heatwave in Portland. It’s not usually like this.”

Less than two months after seeing its highest temperature on record, 116F, the city of 645,000 was facing more grueling temperatures from yet another intense heatwave scorching the Pacific north-west.

Temperatures in Portland climbed to 103F on Thursday while Bellingham, Washington, hit 100F for the first time. Seattle reached highs in the 90s. Much of the region was under an excessive heat warning through Saturday.

Portland typically sees mild summers with temperatures in the eighties in August. The heatwave, the second of the summer, is particularly dangerous in a region unaccustomed to such extreme heat. Ninety-six Oregon residents died in the June heatwave; 60 were Portland residents. The occurrence of that heatwave would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change, a detailed scientific analysis has found.

As the temperatures climbed in south-east Portland on Friday, streets were quieter than normal, save for a handful of cars and scattered cyclists. A haze of smoke from nearby wildfires covered the sky, which forecasters said could help keep temperatures on Friday and Saturday slightly lower than predicted. Some restaurants, food trucks and coffee shops closed early for the day, leaving notes of apology on their doors, citing the heatwave.

Meanwhile, the city closed its outdoor pools on Thursday and Friday afternoon to “protect all visitors and staff”.

Portland ranks third among the least air-conditioned US cities – about 70% of homes have air conditioning. Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, and the Portland mayor, Ted Wheeler, declared a state of emergency earlier in the week due to the heat, and officials opened cooling centers across the city and state.

A county pool sits closed due to inclement weather, as a heat wave continues in Portland, Oregon — A county pool sits closed due to inclement weather, as a heatwave continues in Portland. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Reuters

“Not everyone has a place to get cool. This climate doesn’t usually get this hot and it’s important people have a place to rest,” said Jake Dornblaser, who was overseeing a cooling center at a middle school in south-east Portland. “There are so many people in Portland that need access to resources.”

The center, which is open 24 hours a day through Sunday, provides people with food, water, beds and other basic items. Longoria had been sitting nearby in the heat with her son when a couple stopped to tell them about the center.

“I was so thankful. My son – he’s in a wheelchair with a broken leg. We were both hot sitting outside. We had never heard of this,” she said.

Crosby Lundbom and Destin Hornych make a water delivery during the heatwave in Portland, Oregon — Crosby Lundbom and Destin Hornych make a water delivery during the heatwave in Portland. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Reuters

The 65-year-old, who uses a walker, said she relied on water bottles and wet bandanas to survive the summer heat, but that this year had been particularly difficult. Longoria and her son lost their house in the city after her husband died.

“I’m gonna reminisce about my house and then walk in,” she said, looking at the cooling center.

The Associated Press contributed to this report