EVACUATE or BODY BAG: Sickened East Palestine Resident Quarantined After Chemical Fume Damage
“I’m scared to death to come back here,” Moo Blake, an East Palestine resident, told Status Coup. Blake was diagnosed with bronchitis following the Norfolk Southern explosion
“Sunday they came knocking on our doors saying that we had to evacuate or they would be coming back with body bags.”
East Palestine Resident Moo Blake says on day one of the Norfolk Southern Train disasters they were told to stay home.
Soon after the train explosion, Moo Blake—who moved into her East Palestine Ohio apartment a day before the Norfolk Southern train explosion—was diagnosed with acute bronchitis as a result of exposure to chemical fumes. As a result, Blake was quarantined. Moo was also placed on oxygen and given three types of steroids. Blake told Status Coup reporter Louis DeAngelis that Norfolk Southern was not concerned about her medical condition: “They asked if I had Medicaid that was paying for it and that was it—that was the only thing they were doing,” she told Status Coup. “They don’t even care. They didn’t ask what I was on, what happened, am I was feeling any better, they just asked if I had someone paying for it.”
“We’re not going to be trampled on. We aren’t going to let this company take over this town and treat us like this for nothing,” Blake told us, adding they are disappointed in both the government response and the lack of assistance from Norfolk Southern.
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“I’m scared to death to come back here,” Blake said. “I made this my home [after moving from Florida] and it sucks. Some people are scared to even be home anymore. A lot of people are selling, a lot of people are moving out, a lot of people are still in hotels afraid to come back home.”
Blake shared a similar story to what other residents have told Status Coup’s Louis De Angelis and Jon Farina this week ON-THE-GROUND in East Palestine. Many experience coughing, rashes, breathing problems, nausea, nosebleeds, headaches, and anger over the lack of information from government officials, agencies, and Norfolk Southern about potential short-term and long-term impacts.
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