Since the smoke from the Canadian wildfires has been blanketing the northeast and mid-Atlantic for more than a week, worries have been raised about the consequences of the air’s continued poor quality.
According to CNN and IQair, New York City’s air quality index peaked at more than 200 on Tuesday night, which is considered to be “very unhealthy.” According to IQair, the city had the poorest air quality of any major city around 10 o’clock on Tuesday, according to CNN.
Later that evening, according to CNN, IQair, and New Delhi in India, the city had the second-worst air quality in the whole globe. The list also featured Lahore, Qatar, Doha, Baghdad, and Iraq.
On Tuesday morning, New York City momentarily topped the list, which led to the cancellation of outdoor activities and events for the day in about 10 school districts in the state’s centre.
PM2.5, the smallest and most harmful pollutant to date, is found in wildfire smoke. It can enter a person’s bloodstream and reach deep lung tissue when inhaled. It is also produced by the burning of fossil fuels, wildfires, and dust storms, and it has been linked to a number of health issues, including heart disease, asthma, and respiratory illnesses.
On Tuesday, the PM2.5 concentration in New York City’s air was over 10 times the WHO guidelines, CNN reported.
According to Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, there are over 150 active wildfires burning in Quebec this week, this is over the double fires burning in any other province in the country, CNN reported.
Quebec has witnessed over 400 wildfires in 2023, so far, CNN reported.