"Prolonged exposure to wildfire smoke can also exacerbate existing respiratory conditions like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. "Wildfire smoke can irritate the respiratory system, leading to symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and throat irritation," says Payel Gupta, MD, FACAAI, the medical director of Allergy, Asthma, Immunology and ENT at and Ease Allergy in Brooklyn, New York. In short: anyone who is more sensitive to air pollution, might have a condition that makes them more sensitive to air pollution, or is in an environment with higher pollution levels falls into the "sensitive group" category.īut wildfire smoke affects everyone, even those who aren't a sensitive group. It's also worth mentioning that, "people of color bear a disproportionate burden of asthma and respiratory conditions and therefore have increased risk of health effects from wildfire and pollution," says Nana Mireku, MD, a Texas-based allergist and immunologist. " And pregnant people should follow instructions meant for "sensitive individuals" when it comes to air-quality reports, per the CDC. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also states that "sensitive groups include people who have asthma, heart disease, or COPD. Sensitive groups include "people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children, people with diabetes, and people of lower SES ," the Environmental Protection Agency states. This rating means we're in a "health warning of emergency conditions: everyone is more likely to be affected." "The risk of health effects is increased for everyone," the US Air Quality Index reports. This rating means, "Some members of the general public may experience health effects members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects."
The general public is less likely to be affected." This means, "Members of sensitive groups may experience health effects. More on this ahead, but it includes people with heart and lung conditions, older people, and children. However, there may be a risk for some people, particularly those who are unusually sensitive to air pollution." (More on sensitive groups ahead.) This is the yellow or "moderate" rating and means, "Air quality is acceptable. Only those who are unusually sensitive to air pollution. This ranking means, "air quality is satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk," states the US Air Quality Index. After that, AQI can range from moderate to hazardous. This ranking indicates that the air quality is good and poses little or no risk to individuals. What Is a Normal Air Quality Index?Ī normal AQI falls between 0 to 50, according to the US Air Quality Index. On June 6 and 7, many areas on the East Coast were seeing AQI readings of over 150 but under 200. They measure pollution in the air, then rank the level using the AQI, which stretches from a rating of 0 to 500. The Air Quality Index is created by the Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental agencies.
PROACTIVE AMNESIA. HOW TO
This guide explains everything you need to know about the AQI and how to stay safe in different levels of air quality. And for those who haven't lived in areas affected by wildfire smoke or heavy air pollution before, the air-quality alerts may be hard to understand. Many people didn't even realize how bad the air quality was until they checked the weather, assuming instead that the haze was a sign of upcoming rain. Unfortunately, air quality is expected to continue to suffer for several more days at least. In fact, a total of 16 states were under alert due to poor air quality and smoke, per NBC News. Because of this, on June 6, New York City had the worst Air Quality Index (AQI) - a measure of pollution in the air - in the entire world, reports CNN. The smoke from those wildfires has traveled across the country and into the East Coast of the United States, resulting in a cloudy haze. This week, Canada has seen some of its worst wildfires, with over 400 active fires burning across the country, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people.
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