Hazardous air quality levels continued to overwhelm parts of the eastern U.S. today as a fresh wave of smoke from Canadian wildfires billowed across the border.
Major metro areas are still experiencing unhealthy air quality levels for all age groups, including New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., the National Weather Service said.
Officials have warned residents whose cities were shrouded in haze to stay indoors and wear masks outdoors.
Millions under air quality alerts
- Around 123 million people are under air quality alerts.
- New York City had the worst air quality in the world this morning, according to IQAir.com, a tracking service.
- More than 400 wildfires are burning in Canada, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
- President Joe Biden pledged to send additional firefighters to America's neighbor to the north.
- Areas from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast should finally get a reprieve by Saturday as a wind shift pushes the smoke away.
Philadelphia schools go virtual as air quality remains poor
Image shows U.S. Capitol enveloped in smoke
NYC delivery workers say they had ‘no choice’ but to work
On Wednesday afternoon, as New York City residents tried to make sense of the orange haze that blanketed the area, a Chinese delivery worker who services restaurants in south Brooklyn carried on despite the dangerous air conditions, dropping off orders over the course of his 10-hour shift.
“If you’re out for long periods of time, you feel your breathing become more difficult. It starts to hurt,” the delivery worker, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, said in Mandarin through an NBC News translation. “It’s like cigarette smoke. The more you’re out, the more your throat hurts.”
The Brooklyn-based worker, 38, is one of countless delivery people who continued to brave the conditions outside despite the city’s air quality being the worst in the world during a period of time Wednesday because of the persistent smoke caused by more than 400 wildfires in Canada. Despite advisories across all five boroughs, many delivery workers said they couldn’t afford to miss a day of work, particularly because there is no minimum wage requirement for many who operate as independent contractors.
Wildfire smoke can cause some surprising symptoms
Itchy eyes, a scratchy throat and a cough probably come as no surprise when the air is thick with wildfire smoke. But poor air quality can contribute to less expected symptoms, too.
It is not uncommon for people to also experience chest pain, headaches and dizziness, according to Dr. Gregory Wu, a critical care medicine physician at Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York.
“We do encourage folks, if they’re having chest pain or chest tightness, that they should be seeking care,” Wu said. “And similarly, if folks are having headaches or dizziness, that’s another good reason to seek care, or at least get indoors.”
Persistent headaches should prompt medical attention, he added, especially if someone is not normally prone to headaches or the headache feels worse than usual.
Graphic: Canada’s wildfire season already among the largest
Canada’s wildfire season is off to a blistering start.
More than 14,000 square miles have burned through Tuesday, already making 2023 one of Canada's top five wildfire seasons since 2003, according to an NBC News analysis of Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre data.
This chart shows the yearly total of land burned by wildfires in Canada.
Nearly 600 flights delayed nationwide
The smoke forced airlines and airports to delay 594 flights across the country as of 4 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware, a tracking service. Six flights were canceled nationwide.
Wildfire smoke can increase risk of Covid infections
Exposure to wildfire smoke can increase a person's risk of getting Covid or developing a severe case of the disease. Smoke can irritate and inflame the lungs and weaken the immune system — factors that make people more vulnerable to lung infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A study from Harvard researchers looked at the effects of wildfire smoke on Covid cases in California, Oregon and Washington from March to December 2020. The researchers attributed more than 19,700 Covid cases and nearly 750 Covid deaths to daily increases in fine particulate matter — the term for tiny particles of pollution in the air that are less than 4% of the diameter of a human hair.
People who currently have Covid also face an increased risk of health issues from wildfire smoke such as coughing, trouble breathing or heart attack.