‘A real matter of life or death’: How the pandemic has renewed focus on push to change S.I. car culture Updated Mar 12, 2021; Posted Mar 12, 2021 Jess Scicchigno, a New Dorp Beach resident with asthma and a condition called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), is one of the Island’s residents affected by high pollution levels. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk) Facebook Share [This is part two of a two-part series analyzing Staten Island’s air pollution and the coronavirus outbreak.] STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A noxious concoction of harmful pollutants lines Staten Island’s main highway — an artery of black carbon and nitric oxide — that serves as a center point of dangerous pollutants that threaten borough residents’ lung health.