Just weeks after Canadian wildfires enveloped the northeastern United States in thick smoke, the ongoing blazes are bringing more air into the Midwest that the Environmental Protection Agency considers unhealthy.
Detroit and Cleveland are currently experiencing air pollution levels that are considered “very unhealthy,” with Air Quality Index (AQI) readings over 200.
According to the EPA, exposure to wildfire smoke can be harmful to human health, causing symptoms ranging from eye and respiratory irritation to asthma attacks and heart failure.
For millions of Americans in the eastern half of the United States, current air quality conditions are their first exposure to severe wildfire smoke. Here are recommendations from public health authorities on how to protect yourself:
Keep an eye on the AQI
AirNow.gov measures the presence of five major pollutants and calculates a scale from 0 to 500. You can even search specifically by your zip code.
Smoke can move quickly depending on wind patterns, so if there is smoke in your area, it’s best to check a few times a day, especially before you plan on doing any strenuous outdoor activities. If the air quality is in the red zone, meaning the AQI is between 150 and 200, the air is considered unhealthy to breathe. Anything higher (purple for 200-300 and maroon for 300-500) is recommended to stay indoors.
For people with lung conditions like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and long-COVID, you should limit yourself to indoor activities, even if the air has been labeled orange, for “unhealthy for sensitive groups.” Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with heart conditions are also at increased risk, according to the EPA.
“If it’s orange, there’s concern that some people, particularly those with respiratory issues, could be affected,” Dr. Brady Scott, a fellow at the American Association for Respiratory Care, told Yahoo News earlier this month. “If you’re in the red zone, and certainly if we’re in the purple or maroon zones, everyone is at risk, even if you’re a so-called healthy person.”
Keep the air indoors clean
During wildfire smoke, you should also keep your indoor air clean, which means closing your windows and using an air filtration system or single-room air purifier if necessary. Experts also recommend using an air conditioner that recirculates the air inside your home, rather than pulling in air from outside.
“Air purifiers with a HEPA [high efficiency particulate air] “A filter sucks in the smoke, captures the particles and blows out clean air,” Dr. Raymond Casciari, a pulmonologist at Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, told Yahoo Life.
If you can’t get an air purifier right away, the EPA says you can make one by “attaching a furnace filter to a box fan with tape, brackets, or a bungee cord,” though its effectiveness isn’t guaranteed since no studies have been done on it. The agency recommends replacing the filters if they become dirty or smell like smoke.
Wear a mask outside
If you do go outside when the air is considered unhealthy, experts recommend wearing a mask, especially if you’ll be outside for an extended period of time. The same masks that work best to reduce your risk of COVID-19 offer the most protection from smoke.
“You have to think about the two F’s: filtration and fit. When it comes to filtration, you want a high-quality mask, whether it’s an N95 or a KF94,” Joseph Allen, an associate professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Health.com. “You want that mask to fit tightly to your face so that all the air that you breathe is forced through the filter of the mask.”
A KN95 also offers protection against wildfire smoke, but surgical and cloth masks filter less and are less snug.
Mental health can also be affected
In the western half of the country, where smoke from wildfires is an increasing problem due to climate change, many residents are finding their favorite summer activities regularly disrupted.
“In the West, we have grown accustomed to the grim return of weeks-long, almost annual periods when wildfire smoke brings outdoor life to a virtual standstill,” wrote David Knowles, editor in chief of Yahoo News in California, recently.
If that sounds depressing, it is.
A 2022 study published in the journal BMC Public Health that looked at people affected by wildfires on the West Coast found that “45.3% reported experiencing anxiety due to the smoke, and 21.4% reported feeling depressed due to the smoke,” Knowles said.
So keep an eye on your sanity and keep hope alive: the air patterns that bring smoke into the city can just as easily change in the blink of an eye, taking the smoke away again.
