Large swaths of the U.S. East Coast are blanketed in haze of smoke that has drifted down from wildfires in Canada. Yahoo Finance health care reporter Anjalee Khemlani details the impact of the air quality upon public health.
Video Transcript
- Well, New York City hit a global record of poor air quality Wednesday as the impacts of Canada's wildfires were felt as far down the East Coast as D.C. Now today the air quality should slightly improve but the question remains, how has this mass pollution impacted our health? "Yahoo Finance's" Anjalee Khemlani is here to weigh in. Anjalee, I'm still seeing people walking around with masks down here in D.C. at the moment.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: As they should. And in fact, D.Cs air quality is being equally negatively impacted. And this is bringing to the fore the conversation about indoor air quality in addition. There's been a lot of discussion about what the metrics should be and what is a safe number as we saw from COVID with studies showing that even wildfires help spread COVID.
So let's talk about what happened yesterday in particular in the entire Eastern seaboard from Boston through D.C. New York City ranking number one in worst air quality globally for two days. Outranking places that we've known for years to have poor air quality like Dubai and Delhi.
Meanwhile, the air quality has been cited as worse than 9/11. And we know the health hazards that came then. So that's something to think about. Aeroplanes were grounded and delayed. You just noted that was lifted at LaGuardia.
Meanwhile, we also saw New Jersey Governor close state offices early in the afternoon because of how thick the haze got. And this morning, New York Governor announced the handing out of masks for transit employees, state employees, as well as commuters. So all of this just showing how dangerous the situation is.
Now we do need to take a look at what those numbers are. You saw-- you discuss those record numbers. In terms of the air quality index as you see on your screen. New York hit 342 on that index, which is literally off the charts. Because that number that starts the hazardous level, which is the highest level is 301, just to give you a sense of how dangerous it was.
And Meanwhile, the actual number that they use to determine the particulates per cubic meter was 800. And I've spoken to some experts who have said they still trying to wrap their head around those numbers. Now what does this all mean? We know that, of course, bad air quality leads to asthma, heart health problems, lung health problems, and the like.
And we saw the danger of a respiratory virus. So things like flu and COVID also easily transfer as a result. There's a lot of risk to in particular the elderly, the young, and pregnant mothers, and those who have other illnesses in particular respiratory related. So this also brings out a conversation really about what air quality and public health have in common.
We heard from Linsey Marr, a well-known health expert who wrote in an op-ed in "The Times" recently. It quotes, "If the pandemic was whispering to us about air quality, the wildfires are screaming to us about it." end quote. And so that's really setting the tone for what we should be looking at.
Now the EPA and the CDC have already been looking into this. We know, for example, that the Environmental Protection Agency has already started a proposal to reduce that number of allowed particulates per cubic meter. Right now, that number is 12 annually on average. And they're looking to reduce that to around eight or nine, there's already discussion around that.
And the CDC has already started talking about recommending five air changes every hour indoors. So this is bringing that conversation in. And we've had experts also recommend air filters, in addition to Hepa, of course. Other cheaper ones that you can install to not make the process as much as problematic.
And this of course, as we talk about-- really talking about building standards and codes and things about indoor quality. As we talk about the climate crisis worsening, experts are saying that this is something that needs to be paid attention to. For example, Dr. Purvi Parikh who is an allergist and immunologist at the allergy and asthma network told us that we need to start including these systems, because-- for example, in Manhattan yesterday and in the tri-state area, you could smell the smoke indoors. That means a filter the air is not being filtered and so that's where a lot of the concern is.
So really we don't know what the long-term impacts of what we experienced yesterday and the day before and even today are going to be. But suffice it to say that it is going to be very concerning for both health experts and air quality experts moving forward.
- And I mean, especially concerned if you live in an area that's densely populated and perhaps you don't have the funds to buy an air purifier or something else-- that you're really a much higher risk than everybody else. Is there something policy-wise, I know you mentioned-- it was sort of even with the gas stove. But there was a lot of pushback when they tried to sort of initiate these gas stove policies. But it was really to help make sure that everybody can have good air quality. Do we know about any other plans then by policymakers to move on this?
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Aside from the EPA making its move now and listening to the public commentary now, that's the period that they're in, we know the CDC already did its refresh guidance, the World Health Organization had an even lower number of five micrograms per cubic meter as its new updated guidance all as a result of COVID. So really what experts are saying is that before COVID it was relegated to really just urban areas, low-income housing, and the like where this problem was known. And now, because of the pandemic, there's really a spotlight on the issue.
And hopefully, those external outdoor numbers could help guide or standardize for building codes at the least, if not be used as a guide for what indoor air quality is supposed to be and for experts to look at that. Because right now, it really is up to builders and the like to determine what those numbers should be for their own buildings.
- Certainly is another wake up call, much needed. Thank you so much. Anjalee Khemlani there for us. Thanks so much.
