Emergency department visits increased during and after Aliso Canyon gas blowout

Emergency department use rose significantly during and after the 2015–16 Aliso Canyon gas blowout, according to a new paper from the UCLA Aliso Canyon Disaster Health Research Study. Data showed that people living downwind of the blowout had 26 more emergency department visits per 1,000 residents from before to during the disaster, compared with the same time frame in a demographically similar comparison community. That surge remained similarly high a year later.