{"id":547002,"date":"2026-07-18T02:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T02:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/547002\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T02:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T02:39:08","slug":"uva-health-doctor-warns-of-smoky-air-effects-some-still-head-to-the-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/547002\/","title":{"rendered":"UVA Health doctor warns of smoky air effects, some still head to the trail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LYCNHBURG, Va. (WSET) \u2014 A smoky haze blanketed the Hill City on Friday, hiding the mountains and making it harder for some people to breathe as they exercised outdoors.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Michael Nelson with UVA Health said people with chronic lung conditions are especially vulnerable when air quality is bad. He said symptoms from smoke exposure can include wheezing, a scratchy or irritated throat, coughing, and shortness of breath.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing gets worse than a smoky day, but a smoky hot, hazy, humid day right in the middle of summer. It is tragic for some of our patients with chronic lung disease and chronic sinus disease. They&#8217;re getting hit by every direction,\u201d Nelson said.<\/p>\n<p>For people with chronic lung conditions, Nelson recommends staying indoors as much as possible, avoiding outdoor exercise, taking prescribed medications, and wearing an N-95 mask if they need to be outside. Health experts also recommend using inhalers or medications as preventative measures.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/wset.com\/news\/local\/canadian-wildfires-affect-air-quality-in-lynchburg-currently-at-unhealthy-levels-safety-health-july-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Canadian wildfires affect air quality in Lynchburg, currently at &#8216;unhealthy&#8217; levels<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Even with the distinct smell of smoke, some people still headed out to the trail to get exercise. The trail was quieter than normal, but those who went said they noticed the poor air quality.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were going to take a picture, and then we were like, &#8216; Why is it so hazy?'&#8221; one trail user said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefinitely harder to breathe today,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n<p>A third person described feeling the effects while running, \u201cI get through the first mile. The second mile, I was thinking this is definitely strange; I feel like not a struggle to breathe, but it&#8217;s just a little difficult to process it all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe walked out, and it was really smoky and yeah, the air smelled like smoke,&#8221; another trail user said.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the smoky conditions, people on the trail said it was still important to them to get outside, stay active and enjoy the trail, while health experts urged those with chronic lung conditions to take extra precautions and stay inside when possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LYCNHBURG, Va. (WSET) \u2014 A smoky haze blanketed the Hill City on Friday, hiding the mountains and making&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[589,163,85,46],"class_list":["post-547002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}