CLEVELAND — As soon as you walk out the door, you see it: thick, muggy, smoky air.
AirNow.gov says it all: "The quality is not good."
"The air quality index, as we speak right now, is about 243," University Hospitals pulmonologist Dr. David Rosenberg said Wednesday. "When it's above 200, everybody in the general public is at risk, even if you're healthy."
And Rosenberg says you'll known when it's affecting you.
"It has potential to irritate the airways, to cause coughing and congestion," he explained. "It can clearly irritate your eyes, nose, and throat."
It's been especially tough on allergy sufferers and folks with breathing issues.
"We are seeing a lot more people coming in complaining of allergy type symptoms," Discount Drug Mart pharmacist Dr. Julie Cheich admitted, "and especially people who have underlying diseases such as asthma, COPD."
Rosenberg says the elderly and children should be extra careful.
"[With] any kind of irritant — whether it's cigarette smoking or pollution, like we're talking about — if the lungs haven't matured, they're particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of these types of pollutants."
He also recommends the following tips, if you're struggling:
- If you have to go outside, wear an N95 mask.
- If exercise is worsening your symptoms, reduce it.
"If you can adjust your air conditioning system so it recirculates the air inside and not draws in fresh air from the outside, that would be great," he added.
But the best solution is actually staying inside as much as possible until the smoke clears.
"You want to minimize the outside air from coming in," Dr. Joseph Khabbaza of Cleveland Clinic told 3News. "It would not be the best time to start vacuuming or lighting candles, you don't want other particles being in the air inside our living space when the outside air is not as healthy."
And while there's no precise timeframe on when conditions will improve, the Cleveland Department of Public Health says they're on it.
"Our team processes this data 365 days a year," city Health Director Dr. David Margolius said, "and so it's up to us working with other agencies to help get the word out."