From Huffington Post: Appalachian Coal Communities Brace For Coronavirus: It’s Going ‘To Wipe Us Out’
Vulnerable coal miners suffering from black lung disease fear what will happen if COVID-19 is added to the mix.
By MATT KRUPNICK
Coal is no longer the commodity it once was, but its legacy in Appalachia remains: scores of miners with black lung disease who are now at a high risk of suffering from the coronavirus.
Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, better known as black lung, is a scarring of the lungs caused by years of coal dust inhalation. At least one in 10 underground miners has black lung, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but experts say the actual number could be much higher. As the lungs scar, it becomes harder to breathe, so the thought of adding COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, to the mix is terrifying to these workers.