Similar question to this that I've been wondering this wildfire season -- at what point is AQI (Air Quality Index) too severe for human tolerance? The scale tops out at 500, what happens to a person if the air is even worse than that?
Some sensors near Medford, OR are reading in the upper 400's and even low 500's -- what happens if it hits what would be the 1000's if the scale went that high?
I'm mostly thinking of particulates, but AQI includes other gases like CO, SO2, NO2 so maybe those would be more dangerous than particulates (and certainly harder to filter out)
Practically speaking, you start wearing a mask. You start filtering the air inside, and you stop going outside. This way-of-life is already familiar to people in certain major cities, and to those with health issues that make them more vulnerable to air quality problems. It's a worse life, but it's still life.
This is one reason I hope it continues to be socially acceptable in the U.S. to wear masks. I've wanted to wear one even pre-covid for pollution and pollen, but you would get very weird looks, or even stopped by security in some cases.
I still wear mine. Recently visited family who live in $RED_VOTER area. Got a bunch of looks from the locals. Nobody said anything - and who cares if they did? I've learned to say "fuck off" in multiple languages (thank you internet!)
Medford resident here. We experienced a few days of 900+ last summer.
It's very bad. Even in the 400's, it feels like chain smoking. At 900 the air is thick enough to block out most of sun. I have no idea what this has done to my health, but I guarantee it's not good.
Wow. It hit 140 where I live and I immediately ran to the hardware store to buy better AC filters, and more air purifiers. How are you handling it in a practical sense?
Practically speaking... I guess you get used it. Yesterday I spent the afternoon outside by a river in 200+ AQI, and it didn't seem too bad. I use an N95 mask if it's bothering me, and a respirator if I have a lot of work to do outside.
The main issue for me so far has been psychological. Summer used to be peak season here, with tons of amazing nature and outdoor activities. Now, it's just a waiting game until the rain starts back up again.
The loss of place is palpable, honestly. My niece and nephew have never gotten to experience a normal summer:
https://imgur.com/a/EAVStxe
Edit: This graph cuts off at 2018, but believe me when I say that 2019, 2020, and 2021 have been even worse.
I’m speaking out of my depth here but I believe exposure related disease is based on the particle density over time. Particles can clog the respiratory system, reducing blood oxygen and introducing free radicals. To a large extent the body is able to remove the debris, but if there is too much buildup due to prolonged exposure to high AQI then it can be difficult to recover without intervention.
I was at a chain drug store the other day and saw a display for canned oxygen, regular and Peppermint flavor!?! It seemed like another sign of the apocalypse to me, but maybe just a gimmick or stopgap for terrible air quality events.
There are a bunch of cities in China and India where AQI peaks at well over 1000. As you'd expect, the long-term health effects are similar to chain smoking, but it doesn't cause healthy people to drop dead on the spot or anything. Asthmatics, on the hand, are in for a bad time.
One of the previous years AQI 246 (in SF) was compared to smoking 11 cigarettes a day by some researchers. Assuming you do literally nothing to avoid it, 500 must be like smoking a ~pack a day. That is a typical, easy to track volume for many smokers; I used to smoke a pack a day for a couple years (gave up completely ~15 years ago)... it's not great statistically (and certainly make cardio harder from my experience), but it feels just like normal life and is low enough impact that many people never give up 0_o
Well it already happens when big wildfires happen and people have dangerous air around for days. In the short term, keeping everything closed and using masks is probably enough.
If you mean as a permanent thing, you'd need houses to start having filters on air intake and no openable windows, with instead all air being circulated by the place that has a filter
Due to local geography trapping wildfire smoke, last week SLC, UT, USA hit over 200 and even walking to the mailbox without a mask on was uncomfortable. My friends were wearing N95s and respirators when walking to their cars and using the recirculation setting. My HVAC filter was dark with smoke particles.
Anything over 100 and I'm feeling uncomfortable. Practically speaking what happens is you stay inside and get good air filters if you have to go outside.
Some sensors near Medford, OR are reading in the upper 400's and even low 500's -- what happens if it hits what would be the 1000's if the scale went that high?
I'm mostly thinking of particulates, but AQI includes other gases like CO, SO2, NO2 so maybe those would be more dangerous than particulates (and certainly harder to filter out)