I started understanding more about air quality when I lived in Singapore. I was there when the AQI reached 300+ a few years ago. They gave us N95 masks at work and I remember we were sent home when the air quality reached unhealthy levels. I remember giving an uncle my extra N95 mask on the bus ride on the way home.
Luckily, there was a lot of materials available in Singapore about air quality. The National Environment Agency (https://www.nea.gov.sg/) in Singapore has a website full of resources. They publish air quality info on their website, https://www.haze.gov.sg/, and the info is also available on their social media sites. I started reading more about haze and air quality when I started to have asthma. At that time I didn't know it was asthma because I never had it prior to living in Singapore.
Here's a few things you need to understand about air quality.
What is air quality? I simply understand air quality as the measurement of how clean or dirty the air is. It can be referred to as haze, vog, smog.
What causes bad air? Air pollution can be caused by many things. A few I could think of right now include vehicle emissions (car/trucks/planes/trains etc.), emissions from volcanoes, your friendly neighbor's siga*, fire etc.
How do you measure air quality? From what I understand governments install sensors to measure the concentration of air pollution. In Singapore, they publish information by area. In the Philippines, I normally check the IQ Air website to check for information. The data IQ Air publishes normally comes from volunteer contributors who install sensors in their building/area.
How does a report look like? Here's an example of the air quality in my city right now (as of writing) -
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| Source: IQAir.com |
How should I read this report?
The number, 153, refers to US AQI. My understanding from my experience in Singapore is this refers to the concentration level of PM10 in the air. PM10 are particles with a diameter of 10 microns or less and inhalable into the lungs. It can irritate your eyes, nose and throat. This is usually dust (from roads, dry riverbeds, farms, construction sites etc.).
The smaller number in the box with exclamation point, x11.8, refers to the concentration level of PM2.5 pollutant in the air. This are teenie tiny particles that can easily get into your lungs. It is more dangerous because it can cause heart and lung issues. This is likely what triggered me to have asthma and have frequent ER visits.
This is something I've been doing for many years now and moreso now since I'm immunocompromised and my lung function is down in the dumps. Here's what you should do:
- Always check the air quality in your area. If your area doesn't have it, nag your local government to install sensors.
- Wear a N95 mask. Those surgical masks you used to wear to prevent getting viruses won't work as it doesn't block those tiny air pollutants.
- Stay indoors and follow what the AQI alerts recommend.
- Use an air purifier (I've used them for many years now and here's a review of the different brands I've used).
- If you have asthma, make sure you have your medicines and go see a doctor if you are compromised.
- I also have mint tea and essential oils on hand as preventive measures (a whiff of bad AQI immediately triggers asthma for me).
Take care everyone!
*When your neighbor burns leaves or trash, which is btw prohibited by the Clean Air Act.
#BeKind #StaySafe
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