The New York Times: Why Doctors Still Recommend Masking After Wildfire Smoke Clears
The New York Times, CBSNews.com and TIME.com recently interviewed Irina Dralyuk, MD, a pediatric pulmonologist at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s, and Jeremy Falk, MD, a pulmonologist and associate professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, about air quality in the immediate wake of the L.A. wildfires.
Dralyuk told The New York Times that people in wildfire-affected areas should limit time outside for several weeks—even if the air quality index (AQI) level indicates air quality is good, because AQI does not capture many dangerous pollutants from wildfire smoke.
“I tell everybody to take the numbers with a grain of salt,” Dralyuk said. “Realistically, for probably weeks—if not longer—after the fires are extinguished, we’re going to have lasting impact on health in terms of our air quality, whether we can smell [smoke] or not.”
Dralyuk told CBSNews.com poor air quality is especially concerning for people with a high risk of respiratory problems.
“The exposure to this type of fire and the smoke that people are inhaling unfortunately is very dangerous because the small particle size can get into the distal—or the small—airway and cause a lot of inflammation,” she said.
Falk told TIME.com the fires produce pollutants that are different from everyday air pollution common in major cities such as Los Angeles.
“What we’re really worried about is the PM2.5 levels,” he said, referring to the tiny particles from wildfire smoke that can get into the lungs and cause health problems.
Falk told TIME.com that wearing an N95 or KN95 mask when outdoors, turning on the air conditioner and recirculating air from the inside, and using a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration system indoors can provide protection.
“HEPA filters are great,” he said. “The higher the MERV [minimum efficiency reporting value] rating, the better, because what that means is it’s basically filtering out smaller particles.”
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