2023-06-29 23:22:51
Check the air quality, as one consults the weather forecast. For many Canadian parents, the start of the holidays turns into a headache in cities that are suffocating under the fumes generated by the megafires that are ravaging the country.
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For several days, the metropolises of eastern Canada, in Quebec and Ontario, have been experiencing episodes of unprecedented air pollution.
Vulnerable people, including children, are therefore advised to stay indoors to avoid inhaling the fumes, which contain particularly high concentrations of fine particles.
Marion Hélies, animator in a leisure center in Montreal, tells AFP the frustration of her little residents: “The children no longer hold, because we have been inside for several days.”
Air Quality Index (AQI)
What is the air quality index in your city and what are the health recommendations derived from it?
Air Quality Index (AQI US)
101-150
Bad
sensitive people
IQA: BONDS
Great day to be active outdoors.
AQI: MODERATE
Some people may be particularly sensitive to fine particle pollution
Particularly sensitive people: Consider reducing the duration and intensity of outdoor activities. Pay attention to symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath. These are signs to slow down.
All the others : Great day to be active outdoors.
AQI: BAD for
sensitive people
Sensitive groups include people with heart or lung disease, the elderly, children and adolescents, minority populations and outdoor workers.
Sensitive groups: Reduce the duration and intensity of outdoor activities. It’s okay to be active outside, but take more breaks. Pay attention to symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath.
People with heart disease: Symptoms such as palpitations, shortness of breath, or unusual tiredness may indicate a serious problem. If you have any of these symptoms, contact your healthcare professional.
AQI: BAD
for everyone
Sensitive people: Avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor activities. Consider rescheduling or moving activities indoors.*
All the others : Reduce the duration and intensity of activities. Take more breaks from outdoor activities.
*Note: If you don’t have an air conditioner, staying indoors with the windows closed can be dangerous in extremely hot weather. If you are hot, go to a place with air conditioning or check with your municipality to see if cooling centers are available in your community.
AQI: VERY BAD
Sensitive people: Avoid all physical activity outdoors. Postpone it to a time when the air quality is better or move activities indoors.*
All the others : Avoid prolonged or strenuous activities. Consider rescheduling or moving activities indoors.*
*Note: If you don’t have an air conditioner, staying indoors with the windows closed can be dangerous in extremely hot weather. If you are hot, go to a place with air conditioning or check with your municipality to see if cooling centers are available in your community.
AQI: CRITICAL
All the others : Avoid all physical activity outdoors.
Sensitive people: Stay indoors and maintain a reduced activity level. Follow tips for keeping particulate levels low indoors.*
*Note: If you don’t have an air conditioner, staying indoors with the windows closed can be dangerous in extremely hot weather. If you are hot, go to a place with air conditioning or check with your municipality to see if cooling centers are available in your community.
“Between the smoke and the rain, it’s a bit difficult to channel them,” she slips, confident that she organized a 10-minute outing despite degraded air quality in the French-speaking metropolis.
It’s the second time in days that the city has been forced to close sports fields and outdoor pools due to the fumes. In the streets, the smell of burning – despite fires more than 600 km away – envelops everything. The buildings are obscured by fog and it is difficult to see the sun.
According to the authorities, the air quality index oscillates between “harmful” and “very harmful”.
After several days of being locked up at home, Marin Vicck, 14, also finally offered himself an outing. “The air quality is terrible, to the point where it’s difficult to walk around because of the smoke. We feel trapped.”
Kedjar Boudjema is also discouraged by this succession of warnings in a few days. Phone in hand, he now consults his application on air quality every day.
“When I receive alerts, I pay attention, I close the windows,” says the father of a 4-year-old boy who proudly carries his blue and red umbrella with the image of Winnie the Pooh.
“I’m worried regarding his health, but at the same time it’s complicated not to go out with him at all,” he says wearily.
In Ottawa, where visibility was also very poor once more on Thursday, Janet Hamill planned her day around the air quality, preferring to walk with her two grandchildren, ages 2 and 11, early in the day, before that the smoke does not thicken too much.
“I bring them home before the situation really gets worse. The smoke is hard for them as it is for me, so we stay inside most of the time”, explains the grandmother.
These episodes of heavy pollution might be repeated throughout the summer, the authorities having warned that the peak of the fire season had not yet been reached.
Many are therefore worried regarding the consequences for health in the long term, in a country which has 10% asthmatics: calls to Asthma Canada, an association dedicated to this respiratory disease, have almost doubled since the fires started. started in early May.
People “especially want to know what they can do to protect themselves,” its president, Jeff Beach, told AFP.
Canada, which due to its geographical location is warming faster than the rest of the planet, has been confronted in recent years with extreme weather events whose intensity and frequency have been increased by climate change.
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