{"id":245161,"date":"2026-07-16T20:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/245161\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:01:12","slug":"as-pa-air-quality-worsens-from-wildfire-smoke-stay-indoors-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/245161\/","title":{"rendered":"As Pa. air quality worsens from wildfire smoke, stay indoors: experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the wildfire tearing through Canada and Minnesota brings haze and particulate matter into eastern Pennsylvania, health experts warn that people, especially those with existing respiratory issues, should limit time outside.<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection declared a statewide Code Red Air Quality action day Thursday, and particulate matter and smoke is expected to linger for a few more days. Monitoring site Airnow.gov<\/a> says the air quality in the Lehigh Valley will remain unhealthy for sensitive groups Friday.<\/p>\n

Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, said a \u201cnortherly surface flow\u201d overnight and into early Friday would keep the worst of the wildfire smoke to the south during the day, but wind shifts could mean that surface smoke could return over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Because of this, the DEP and health experts are warning that the elderly, the very young, pregnant people, and those with chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema should limit their time outdoors and take additional precautions if possible. They are also recommending everyone try to avoid exerting themselves outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren in general are going to be the highest risk group because they actually breathe in more particulate matter. They breathe more frequently than adults,\u201d said Dr. Jennifer Logan, pediatric pulmonologist with Lehigh Valley Reilly Children\u2019s Hospital a part of Jefferson Health. \u201cAnd they breathe in more air relative to their body size. So, they actually will breathe in more pollution than adults will while being outside for the same amount of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, with air quality as poor as it is on Thursday, anyone could be affected by the fine particulate matter in the smoke. These particulates can easily work its way into the smallest airways of the lungs, which can cause coughing and wheezing. Even for healthy people, prolonged exposure can cause short-term problems like eye irritation, pulmonary inflammation and issues with lung function, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.<\/p>\n

Chrysan Cronin, a professor of public health at Lehigh University, said that breathing in this air could have long-term repercussions, especially for those who are vulnerable. She said at an air quality index of 200, it is the equivalent of smoking four to six cigarettes in a day, and above 300 it is the equivalent of smoking 10 to 12 cigarettes, about half a pack, in a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see these kids out playing soccer or swimming or riding their bikes and you know, you might think, oh they\u2019re young and you know it\u2019s not going to hurt them, but you wouldn\u2019t let your kids smoke four to six cigarettes today, would you?\u201d Cronin said. \u201cThe good news is we don\u2019t have all the other stuff that\u2019s in cigarette smoke getting into our lungs right now. We just have the particulates, but you don\u2019t want particulates down there in your lungs either.\u201d<\/p>\n

And to top it all off, regions such as the Lehigh Valley are already a difficult place to live for people with asthma and allergies, frequently making it on lists for the poorest air quality<\/a> or the worst places to live for allergy sufferers. A major contributing factor to that is the bowl shape of the valley, which holds in pollen, spores, molds and pollutants for extended periods of time instead of allowing them to be easily carried away by the wind.<\/p>\n

However, there are steps that people can take to limit their exposure. Logan said staying inside in a place where the ventilation is not being pulled from the outside is a simple and obvious way to protect yourself or a loved one\u2019s airways. She added that for people with asthma, using a high-efficiency particulate air filter is also strongly advised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose have been shown to reduce asthma flare-ups in children and reduce hospitalizations and ER visits if they\u2019re used regularly in the home. You can buy those pretty easily for $50 or $100 from Amazon, Walmart, places like that,\u201d Logan said.<\/p>\n

The American Lung Association suggests that people put air conditioners on recirculate, keep windows and vents closed while driving, avoid exercising outside, and postpone mowing the lawn, using a charcoal grill or making unnecessary motor vehicle trips. Individuals with respiratory conditions are advised to monitor their symptoms, speak with their providers and use their inhalers or other therapies as needed.<\/p>\n

Cronin said that focusing on these issues from a solely individual perspective is flawed, when the actions and inactions of governments have contributed to these events. She said these massive forest fires are caused in part by land mismanagement that has allowed North American forests to become too dense and overgrown. And she added that climate change is contributing to the dry conditions that further exacerbate these forest fires. But she said some people do not have the option to shut their windows and some people, like construction workers and landscapers, have to be outside for their jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people that don\u2019t have air conditioning and we\u2019re having very high temperatures right now. So, keeping your windows closed, you\u2019re robbing Peter to pay Paul. You\u2019re just eliminating one problem while creating another one. And we don\u2019t want people to become ill from heat exhaustion. So we\u2019re really up against a wall here today with this heat wave we\u2019re in as well as the smoke that we\u2019re experiencing. We\u2019re getting double-whammied.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the wildfire tearing through Canada and Minnesota brings haze and particulate matter into eastern Pennsylvania, health experts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[349,153,155,154,1057,139,28,29,432,1133],"class_list":["post-245161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-berks-county","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-health","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-top-stories-tmc","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}