How to protect yourself from forest fire smoke – even from thousands of miles away

Smoke from nearly 80 wildfires burning more than 1.4 million acres across the United States has spread thousands of miles over the past two weeks, raising health and safety concerns for residents of rural communities and large cities.

As nearly 22,000 wildland firefighters and support personnel worked to contain fires like Oregon’s Bootleg Fire monster, the eastern United States was swamped by unusually hazy skies this week.

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Residents of New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC looked up in disbelief at a blood orange sun, filtered by smoke blown by the jet stream from both the West and fires in Canada.

It was a phenomenon that had already happened after an unprecedented wildfire season that hit the country last year, sending smoke from coast to coast in the fall.

Experts say this event will become more frequent as man-made global warming exacerbates and intensifies fires – and it is still early in the season this year.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the number of poor air quality days recorded in 2021 by pollution monitors nationwide is more than double the number so far in each of the past two years.

In addition, Canada and the western United States were hit by record-breaking heat waves in June amid a climate-induced “mega-drought”, creating powder keg-like conditions in the forests.

With infections from the COVID-19 pandemic trending on the rise again – particularly in Florida, Texas and Missouri – due to the highly infectious delta variant of the virus, the smoke has become even more of a concern.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points out on their website that recent scientific publications, including Conticini et al., 2020 and Travaglio et al., 2020, suggest that exposure to air pollutants makes them worse. symptoms and findings of the coronavirus.

Smoke from forest fires, a complex mixture of harmful air pollutants also known as PM 2.5, can irritate the lungs, cause inflammation, impair immune function, and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections, possibly including COVID. -19.

The agency recommends that Americans get the COVID-19 vaccine to protect themselves from this threat, especially as more people are being driven indoors by smoke.

Additionally, exposure to smoke is linked to short- and long-term health problems, including decreased lung function, a weakened immune system, higher rates of the flu, and even hospitalizations and deaths.

According to the CDC, people with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, pregnant women and children are especially at risk, as symptoms can include difficulty breathing, wheezing, cough, asthma attacks, itchy eyes, sore throat, runny nose, sore sinuses, headache, fatigue, chest pain and rapid heartbeat.

Air quality alerts have been set for cities in the east and at-risk groups have been instructed to avoid outdoor activities to reduce exposure, wear N95 masks, keep doors and windows closed and use an air filter to clean the indoor air.

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“It’s definitely unhealthy,” Colorado State University atmospheric scientist Jeff Pierce said of the air in recent days. “If you have asthma or any sort of respiratory illness you will want to think about changing your plans if you are going to be outside.”

Americans are advised to create clean living environments, shelter in a cleaner air shelter, or a cleaner air space if the indoor air quality at home cannot be maintained sufficiently. clean and wear a NIOSH approved N95 or P100 respirator, consult local guidelines and monitor EPAs Air quality index external icon (AQI) forecasts and other resources.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.