B.C.’s Air Quality Health Index measures how safe it is to breathe on a scale from one to 10.
But in Kamloops? It was 49 on Thursday.
And while it went down to 12 at night, air quality in the city was still literally off the scale.
Coverage of Kamloops and the wildfires on Globalnews.ca:
With air quality at this level, it isn’t just people who have breathing-related conditions such as asthma who should take extra care with their health in Kamloops.
Warnings are also being issued to the general population to “reduce or reschedule strenuous activities outdoors, especially if you experience issues such as coughing and throat irritation.”
It’s so bad that visibility was near one kilometre at the Kamloops Airport, meaning aircraft couldn’t approach.
The airport warned that there would be cancellations into the evening.
With air quality choked out by a smoky haze from B.C.’s wildfires, some people think it might be a good idea to wear a mask and go outside.
They would be wrong, Silvina Mema, medical health officer with the Interior Health Authority (IHA), told Global News.
“Wearing masks may even worsen people’s subjective feeling of shortness of breath by having something covering their mouth,” she said.
Mema warned that people who exercise outside by running or biking are likely to experience shortness of breath.
“It’s a good idea for everybody to stay in doors or seek clean air” in facilities such as shelters, malls and community centres, she said.
Mema recommended that “everybody try to avoid being outside.”
- With files from Doris Bregolisse
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