CLEVELAND — These aren't your typical hazy summer days. What's floating in that wildfire smoke can be dangerous.
The average healthy person might experience lung inflammation that causes coughing or allergy symptoms like itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose.
"Very few people are going to walk out and instantaneously have an asthma attack," Dr. Michael Anderson says. "That's not the instant effect of this, but if you add up day after day or hour after hour of unhealthy air it can have effects."
Anderson is a pediatric critical care physician who served as the president of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals from 2016 to 2020. He is now a senior advisor to the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C.
Want more experience? Anderson previously served as vice-chair of the National Commission on Children and Disasters under President George W. Bush, and chaired a federal advisory committee under the Obama administration. Prior to those posts, he was Chief Medical Officer at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.
While living in San Francisco, Anderson experienced the effects of wildfire smoke firsthand.
"Our ERs were jumping," he remembered. "We saw so many healthy people that then started to cough and have wheezing episodes."
Wildfire smoke contains a lot of tiny pollution particles that are so small they can get in and stay in the lungs, such as sulfuric acid, ammonium sulfate, and ammonium nitrate. If you're smelling burning plastic, it's because U.V. rays from the sun can chemically alter the smoke into benzene and formaldehyde compounds, which smell like burning plastic or rubber.
"These are toxins the more you breathe them in, that's a higher dose you're taking in, and that's just not good for you," Anderson said. "We may not know the long-term effects of this kind of exposure for a while."
Those most at risk include those with lung or heart conditions, those who are pregnant, smokers, those over age 65, and young children who don't have fully developed lungs. Those with serious chronic lung diseases should wear an N95 mask if they need to spend time outdoors.
The Cleveland Department of Public Health and the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency are extending the air quality alert through Friday June 30th until midnight. If you haven't checked out airnow.gov — the air quality measuring site from the EPA — it's a good idea to check your area before heading out for activities. There's even an app you can put on your phone.
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