The Health Emergency That’s Coming to West Louisville

In a few weeks, a tsunami is going to hit Louisville, Kentucky. It is going to be worse there than many other cities; and it’s going to be the worst in west Louisville. The tsunami, of course, is Covid-19. West Louisville could prove to be a case study in environmental and health injustice, showing what happens when a deadly virus collides with pollution, poverty and decades of segregation.

Louisville has the most polluted air of America’s hundreds of midsized cities, but the burden isn’t shared equally by all who live there. The predominantly black residents of Rubbertown — which is home to Louisville’s chemical industries — and those in nearby west-side neighborhoods are about twice as likely to have asthma as those on the city’s largely white east side, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They’re also twice as likely to have high blood pressure, four times more likely to have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and six times more likely to have heart disease. Scientists agree that pollution is a major cause of these conditions.