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At a busy McDonald’s drive-thru in East Palestine, Ohio, a team of epidemiologists, environmental health scientists and others stood outside Saturday handing out flyers. Each flyer has a survey with a QR code giving information on how to contact health officials.
Three weeks after a massive train derailment spewed toxic, cancer-causing fumes across the area, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun canvassing high-traffic areas of the Ohio town, encouraging residents to talk about their symptoms and long-term health fears.
„We really want to make sure that we target any resident who is potentially impacted,“ Jill Shugart, a senior environmental health specialist with the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, said in an exclusive interview with NBC News. Shugart is leading the agency’s response in East Palestine.
As cleanup from the disaster continues, people who live in and around the small town that borders Pennsylvania remain terrified that the chemicals that blanketed the area in a thick plume of smoke are harming their health. Some have been diagnosed with bronchitis or reporting otherwise unexplained nausea, rashes, irritated eyes and other symptoms.
„I’ve had a scratchy throat like everybody else,“ Mike Zelenak, an East Palestine business owner, told NBC News. „I get headaches.“ Zelenak owns property near the crash site, and he worries about risks for long-term illness.
