The health effects of COVID-19 pose an extra danger to people with underlying health conditions — like the thousands of workers who sprang into action on September 11, 2001.
Michael Barasch is an attorney who represents members of the 9/11 community, including the rescue workers and cleanup crews who spent months in the pile of rubble after the World Trade Center towers collapsed in New York City.
Barasch said 9/11 first responders have developed a wide range of illnesses because of the toxins they were exposed to at Ground Zero.
“We have a host of respiratory illnesses such as asthma, reactive airways disease, pulmonary fibrosis,” Barasch said.
“We’re seeing so much skin cancer, but after that we're seeing so much prostate cancer, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, kidney, brain, liver cancer.”
Now, Barasch has noticed a disturbing trend these past few months, as the coronavirus pandemic claims their lives.