‘Gasping for air’: How Staten Island’s air pollution served as dangerous antecedent to COVID-19 outbreak Updated Mar 03, 2021; Posted Mar 01, 2021 Cheryl Marks, a St. George resident, was diagnosed with hypertension and requires a 24-hour IV to keep her lungs healthy. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk) Facebook Share STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island’s air pollution is never an afterthought for Cheryl Marks. One of the nearly 5 million people diagnosed with hypertension in New York, Marks’ lungs are under constant stress, placing pressure on her heart. Three years ago, her doctors made the decision to put her on a 24-hour IV to pump medicine directly into her lungs.