Interpreting Air Quality
You may have heard about Air Quality before, or have heard news alerts about air quality concerns, but what does it mean? In this article, we will discuss how to understand air quality alerts and determine what they mean for you and your family.
What does Air Quality refer to, and why is it important to my health?
Air Quality refers to how healthy the air we breathe is. Breathing in poor-quality air can cause detrimental health effects within hours or days. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) measures the level of harmful pollutants like ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. The amount of these pollutants in the air is measured on a scale called the Air Quality Index (AQI). It ranges from 0 to 500, and levels around 100 are considered an acceptable standard for the public. Numbers higher than 100 indicate greater health risk.
Who is most at risk when exposed to poor quality air?
Children under 18 years old, people who have asthma or heart disease, pregnant women, people with diabetes, or people who are sensitive to specific pollutants are at increased risk of poor health due to poor air quality. Many times, these groups are referred to as ‘sensitive’ because any air pollution can cause serious health effects.
Understanding the Air Quality Index
The AQI has 6 distinct levels, outlined below, from “Good” to “Hazardous”. Each level also corresponds to a color, which is shown in the image below.
“Good” 0–50
Description: Air quality is satisfactory and poses little or no health risk.
“Moderate” 50–100
Description: Air quality is acceptable. However, there may be a risk for some people, particularly those who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.
Recommendation: Sensitive people should consider limiting prolonged outdoor exertion.
“Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” 101–150
Description: Members of sensitive groups may experience health effects. The general public is less likely to be affected.
Recommendation: Active children and adults, and people with respiratory diseases such as asthma, should limit outdoor exertion.
“Unhealthy” 151–200
Description: Some members of the general public may experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.
Recommendation: Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid prolonged outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
“Very Unhealthy” 201–300
Description: Health alert: The risk of health effects is increased for everyone.
Recommendation: Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid all outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit outdoor exertion.
“Hazardous” 301 and higher
Description: Health warning of emergency conditions: everyone is more likely to be affected.
Recommendation: Emergency conditions: everyone avoid outdoor physical activity.
Image credits: https://www.sparetheair.com/aqi.cfm
How can you protect yourself from poor quality air?
You can protect yourself from poor quality air by staying indoors, especially on days when the AQI is in the orange, red, purple, or maroon range. If you must go outdoors, consider wearing an N95 or KN95 mask that can filter out fine particles from the air. Keep your doors and windows closed and run your air conditioning on the recirculate setting. You can also invest in a portable HEPA filter. HEPA stands for high efficiency particulate air, and you can learn more about how HEPA filters work in this short video.
Determining Your Local Air Quality
Online: The EPA AIRNow website allows you to input a ZIP code, city, or state to view the current air quality in that location.
EnviroFlash is a website that will send you air quality notifications tailored to your preferences. You can click this link to sign up.
On the news: Air quality alerts are usually part of the weather forecast on news and radio broadcasts, and the reporter may indicate air quality in different ways. During reports of air quality, you may hear phrases like: “It’s a code red today for ozone”, “Local air quality is very unhealthy today”, or “Particle pollution levels are forecast to be unhealthy for sensitive groups”.
On your phone: Many weather apps, such as The Weather Channel app provide detailed air quality information and air quality forecasts. Click here to access the app on the Google Play Store (for Android) and here to access the Apple App Store (for iPhone and Mac).