Air quality alerts continue for much of upstate New York. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has issued an Air Quality Health Advisory for all of Upstate until 12:00 a.m. Friday. This is due to smoke from Canadian wildfires.
Alistair Hayden, PhD, a professor of public and ecosystem health at Cornell University, said while wildfires may be miles away, the smoke they produce can cause health problems.
That includes everything from minor symptoms like a sore throat and itchy eyes to life-threatening issues, like respiratory distress.
"Emergency room visits and even deaths increase during these smoke waves,” he said. “So, it's not just a long term effect, like you'd imagine with cigarette smoking for example. Wildfire smoke can impact our health, right now in this moment, while the smoke event is still happening."
Hayden said smoke events are happening more frequently in New York state, and communities need to be prepared. He helped create a dashboard that tracks deaths and concentration of wildfire smoke by county, information that may usually take months, or even years, to receive.
"We wanted to make that research a little more real time, so that our practitioners who are in charge of helping keep our communities safe would have data to act in real time and also just to give a picture in real time of these impacts," he said.
The current smoke event is expected to clear up by the weekend, but Hayden said wildfires can be unpredictable.
He recommends keeping an eye on fire and smoke maps at fire.airnow.gov. If smoke worsens, go inside, and close doors and window. You can also use a high-efficiency air filter or make your own portable air cleaner.
