Farida Jhabvala Romero / KQED

President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the nation’s worker health and safety efforts largely failed in his previous job to enforce protections for California outdoor workers exposed to toxic wildfire smoke. That’s according to an investigation by KQED and The California Newsroom.

The two natural disasters — the coronavirus and record-setting Western wildfires spewing air toxins — converged to exacerbate the pandemic’s health toll last year in California, Oregon and Washington, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances.