‘I’ve already got infected lungs’: for sick coal miners Covid-19 is a death sentence
by Michael Sainato from Environment | The Guardian on (#52BJM)
Miners with black lung struggle during the pandemic with layoffs, benefit cuts and the threat of a virus that would almost certainly kill them
Seven years ago John Robinson of Coeburn, Virginia, was diagnosed with black lung. A coal miner for nearly 30 years, 54-year-old Robinson and many of his fellow workers already faced years of health issues. And then came Covid-19.
Scarring of the lungs caused by years of coal dust inhalation, more formally known as coal workers' pneumoconiosis, leaves miners at high risk of developing serious complications from coronavirus. Now the mining industry is trying to cut its payments to the fund that supports those affected.
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