LANSING — Recent wildfires in Canada have resulted in toxic air quality levels that are affecting public health across the country, and in the state of Michigan.
Michigan's Chief Medical Executive Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian is an expert in public health and warns that it is important to monitor the air quality to know exactly what levels are dangerous to your health.
Most recently, health experts have been seeing air quality ranges in the orange and red ranges.
“So orange is in the 100 to 150 range, red is from about 150 to 200. Orange means it is unhealthy for sensitive groups, and red means it is unhealthy for really everyone,” stated Bagdasarian.
Even with short-term exposure, there are health concerns, especially for those with underlying heart or lung conditions.
Bagdasarian confirmed that those at high risk are, “people with asthma, people with COPD and people with underlying issues that have already comprised their heart or lung function.”
For those that fall into the high-risk group as well as elderly, young children and pregnant women, there are safety measures that must be taken.
“We’re saying avoid strenuous outdoor activities, so activities where you are really having to breathe hard outdoors," said Bagdasarian.
For the groups of people not at high risk, it is recommended to choose less strenuous activities outdoors or limit the amount of time that you engage in that particular activity.
To stay up to date on the air quality risk in your area, you can go to airnow.gov and type in your zip code for real-time air quality index updates.
