SAVE • SCREENSHOT • SHARE
You cannot stop breathing—but you can reduce how much polluted air reaches your lungs.
Check DENR-EMB Advisory
1. GOOD
Enjoy normal activities.
Outdoor exercise and children’s activities can generally continue as usual.
Remember: clean air today does not eliminate the health importance of reducing long-term exposure to pollution.
2. MODERATE
Most people: Normal outdoor activities are generally acceptable.
Unusually sensitive people: If you develop coughing, wheezing, unusual breathlessness or irritation, reduce prolonged or strenuous outdoor activity.
3. UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS
Sensitive groups should reduce prolonged or strenuous outdoor activity.
Be particularly cautious if you are:
- a child or teenager;
- an older adult;
- pregnant;
- living with asthma or COPD;
- living with cardiovascular disease;
- an outdoor worker or otherwise heavily exposed.
Everyone else should watch for symptoms and consider reducing unusually strenuous outdoor exposure.
4. UNHEALTHY
Everyone should start reducing exposure.
Sensitive groups: Avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor activity; consider moving activities indoors.
Everyone else: Reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion and take more breaks.
Keep windows and doors closed when outdoor smoke is substantial, provided indoor conditions remain safe.
Move exercise indoors to cleaner air.
5. VERY UNHEALTHY
HEALTH ALERT
Health effects become a concern for everyone, not merely those with existing disease.
Avoid unnecessary outdoor activity.
Move children’s play and exercise indoors.
Postpone outdoor running and strenuous sports.
Keep vulnerable family members in the cleanest indoor environment available.
If you must spend time outdoors, use a properly fitted particulate respirator such as an N95.
6. HAZARDOUS
HEALTH WARNING
Everyone should minimize exposure.
Remain in a cleaner indoor environment as much as possible and follow government health and emergency advisories.
Cancel or postpone unnecessary outdoor exercise and activities.
Pay particular attention to children, older adults, pregnant women, and people with heart or lung disease.
N95: WEAR IT RIGHT
A respirator works only as well as its fit.
DO
✓ Cover your nose and mouth completely.
✓ Position it underneath your chin.
✓ Mold the nosepiece firmly.
✓ Check for air leaking around the edges.
✓ Try another size or model if you cannot obtain a good seal.
DON’T
✗ Leave your nose exposed.
✗ Wear a loose-fitting respirator.
✗ Wash or microwave a disposable N95.
✗ Continue using one that is wet, dirty or damaged.
A properly fitting N95 or P100 can substantially reduce inhalation of PM2.5. Ordinary surgical or cloth masks do not provide the same protection against wildfire smoke because they do not form the same tight facial seal.
CREATE A CLEAN-AIR ROOM
Choose one bedroom or family room and make it your household’s clean-air refuge.
CLOSE windows and doors when outdoor air is smoky.
FILTER the room with an appropriately sized portable air cleaner if available.
RECIRCULATE indoor air with your air-conditioning system where appropriate rather than continually drawing smoky outdoor air inside.
If your central system can accommodate it, CDC recommends a MERV-13 or higher-efficiency filter.
And avoid creating pollution indoors:
No smoking
Avoid candles and incense
Avoid unnecessary burning
Minimize frying/broiling that produces substantial smoke
Avoid vacuuming when smoke conditions are severe if it resuspends particles.
CDC specifically recommends clean-air rooms as a way to reduce wildfire-smoke exposure.
HEART & LUNG PATIENTS
If you have asthma, COPD or cardiovascular disease:
Keep your prescribed medicines readily available.
Follow your asthma or COPD action plan if you have one.
Avoid strenuous outdoor exercise during severe pollution.
Do not stop prescribed heart or blood-pressure medicines because of the haze.
And never assume chest discomfort is “just the pollution.”
SEEK URGENT MEDICAL ATTENTION FOR
Severe or worsening shortness of breath
Severe wheezing or an asthma attack not responding adequately to usual treatment
Chest pain or pressure
Fainting or severe dizziness
Confusion
Bluish lips or face
Severe respiratory distress
Wildfire smoke can aggravate respiratory disease and is associated with increased respiratory and cardiovascular healthcare utilization.
THE 30-SECOND FAMILY CHECK
Before anyone leaves home during a pollution episode, ask:
1. What’s the air quality now?
Not yesterday. Not this morning. Now.
2. Does this trip really need to happen?
3. Is anyone particularly vulnerable?
4. If going outside is necessary, do we have a properly fitting N95?
5. Is there a cleaner place to exercise, work or wait?
H&L BOTTOM LINE
CHECK • REDUCE • FILTER • PROTECT
CHECK current air quality.
REDUCE unnecessary exposure.
FILTER the air you breathe indoors.
PROTECT vulnerable family members first.
And remember:
If you can see or smell smoke, take it seriously—even before symptoms appear.
Air pollution may be invisible. Its effects on our lungs and cardiovascular system are not.
H&L Public Health Advisory • For educational purposes; not a substitute for individualized medical advice.
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