A team of researchers from Salem State University along with a coalition of other researchers are suggesting that proximity to oil and gas wells is associated with higher rates of COVID-19.

Earlier studies have shown that those living near oil or gas wells are exposed to air, water, soil, noise and light pollution and subsequently at higher risk of developing conditions such as asthma, cancer, immunodeficiencies and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, while other studies have found that air pollution increased COVID-19 risks.

The stages of the oil, gas, and coal lifecycles, and the air pollutants and greenhouse gases associated with them. Source: Energy Research & Social Science (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2023.103104

As such, this new study, considered to be a first of its kind, examines whether proximity specifically to oil and gas development could also be linked to higher rates of COVID-19.

The team examined COVID-19 case and death rates from February 2020 to January 2021 (the first year of the pandemic), with a focus on communities in California located within 6.2 miles of active oil and gas wells. The team also collected census data along with area-level demographic and economic data and data about the wells, including how much oil and gas they produced.

In communities within 0.6 miles of an actively producing well, COVID-19 cases were 34% higher and mortality rates were 55% higher in the first four months of the pandemic. Further, the team determined that the mortality rates were higher in the areas with the highest production.

The study, “Fossil fuel racism in the United States: How phasing out coal, oil, and gas can protect communities,” appears in the journal Energy Research & Social Science.