Milwaukee’s air quality has improved over last week. But Canadian wildfires continue to burn across Ontario. Some health experts are advising people to stay vigilant, with the potential of more smoke spreading over the Midwest and Northeast U.S.
Dr. Ben Weston is Milwaukee County’s chief health policy advisor. He spoke with WUWM’s Eddie Morales about the effects of short- and long-term exposure to wildfire smoke.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Eddie Morales: As you’ve stepped outside, have you observed anything that alarms you regarding how people may or may not be taking precautions during this time?
Dr. Ben Weston: We had such terrible air quality at the end of last week. I mean, we hit well over 500 [AQI], which is just unprecedented numbers for our region. It's the highest we've ever recorded in the Milwaukee County area. That was so bad and so extreme that anything feels better now. So, for most folks, this is going to be all right. But for people who do have lung disease, who have asthma or who have heart disease, this still may be weather that's going to strain their condition and make it worse.
How can wildfire smoke cause health issues?
What happens when we have wildfire smoke is we have these PM2.5. These are very small particulate matters that come in the smoke. The problem is that when you breathe in, these are getting deep into your lungs and they can cause irritation and inflammation inside your lungs. When it does that, there's short-term as well as long-term consequences.
Most of us are feeling the short-term consequences of that. Last week, it didn't matter what physical condition or what health conditions you have. If you were outside for even 30 seconds, you'd feel that your lungs were starting to burn. You might feel like you need to cough. Things just felt a little more uncomfortable. You might also notice your eyes were burning.
When you have those extremes, it hits you really quickly. Now, [when the air quality is slightly better], most of us aren't necessarily going to feel it. We'll see that it's a little bit misty in the air or a little bit smoky in the air. You might smell it a little bit, but it's not going to affect our respiratory status as much. But for kids with really small airways, especially really young kids like babies, for older adults with more fragile airways, and certainly with people who have lung disease, where even a little bit of inflammation in their airways is going to cause a big change, they're still going to feel it.
But those are short-term effects. We also have long-term effects. Over time, chronic exposure to levels of smoke like this can not only worsen some of those lung conditions, but can actually cause them. Now, thankfully, here in Wisconsin, it's pretty intermittent that we have this sort of smoke. So, it's not something that we're doing on a day-to-day basis. We don't worry as much about those chronic issues, but certainly in the short term, we do have lung issues that arise from the smoke.
What precautions can people take?
So, especially when the smoke levels are getting higher and you're starting to feel the effects of it, there are certain things you're going to want to do. Staying inside is the easy one, especially if you have air conditioning or an air purifier. Now we know not everybody in our community has that. The situation is going to be different for different folks. But if you do, that's a pretty safe environment.
If you keep the windows and doors closed, you're running your air conditioner, you have a good filter in that air conditioner, or you have an air purifier that's running, you're going to keep a lot of that particulate matter — a lot of that smoke out of your house. The same thing goes for a car.
Cars can actually be one of the safest places to be if you have the windows closed, you have your air conditioning on, and importantly, you have it on recirculate, that little picture of the car with the circular arrow that we really never use and maybe don't even know what that does. That recirculates the air rather than bringing in new fresh air from outside. It's also a good time to check your cabin air filter to make sure that air filter in your car is actually filtering out some of this particulate matter.
But some of us can't stay inside. People have to work outside or they don't have a living environment that necessarily has that air conditioner or that air purifier and you just have to be exposed to the air. Now, in those cases, you want to still try to minimize exposure. Sometimes that means going to public places like a mall or a library or community center where that air is filtered, especially to get out of the smoke. For others, it might mean a mask, especially people who are more sensitive to those high smoke conditions or when the smoke just becomes so extreme, like we saw last week. We saw a lot of people wearing masks.
Now, one of the important things about masks is it really has to be a high-quality KN95 or N95 mask, and it has to be well-fitting. The cloth masks, the simple surgical masks, those just aren't really going to do much of anything when the smoke is out. Really, the sign of that is you shouldn't be able to smell it. Because if you're smelling it, that particulate matter is getting in. You want a well-fitting N95 or KN95 mask where you can't even smell the smoke anymore, and then you know it's filtering effectively.
For furnace filters, can people do anything other than regular maintenance for those during times like these?
You can get HEPA filters or higher-level MERV 13 or higher. Those are going to be really effective of pulling these particles out of the air in your home. Now, if you're recirculating the air in your home and you keep up with your filter and it's not quite up to that level, it's still going to do a pretty good job because a lot of that smoke isn't coming into your house if you have your windows and doors closed.
If you have trouble affording it, I wouldn't run out and buy a HEPA filter. But certainly for people who are sensitive to smoke, or if you're just sensitive to other things: allergens in your house, maybe pet dander that you have in your house, things like that, it is a good investment because it is going to keep the air in your home quite a bit cleaner. Generally, you're going to want to change those twice a year. So maybe when you turn back the clock or in spring and fall, [those] are good times to change the air filters in your furnaces to keep all that particulate matter, whether it's smoke or anything else that might bother your lungs, out of the air.
Whether it's smoke in the air, whether it's extreme heat, or in a few months, whether we're talking about extreme cold, just keeping in mind that not everybody has the same resources. So, reaching out to coworkers, to neighbors, to family in particular, and making sure people are OK. If you have an older member of your family who's more vulnerable, if you have somebody who doesn't have the same resources to stay warm or stay cold, reach out and see how you can help make sure they're doing OK.
