(KNSI) – Wildfires burning just across the border in western Ontario have blanketed central Minnesota with so much smoke, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said the air quality in the state Thursday was the worst ever on record.
About 11:00 Thursday morning, the MPCA’s monitors showed 422 micrograms of particulate matter per cubic meter, which broke the record set in Brainerd two hours earlier at 401.
Dr. Justin Stocks, pulmonary and critical care physician at CentraCare’s River Campus Clinic in St. Cloud, explains that our bodies have an excellent defense system for larger particulates. Fine particulates from the smoke in the air today can “go the air sacs of our lungs and cause irritation. So, typical symptoms will be cough, wheezing, shortness of breath, there may be some discomfort in the mouth or the back of the throat. And the biggest concern are for those who are most at risk for having adverse health outcomes from it. And so those would include patients with chronic obstructive lung disease, chronic heart disease, and small children as well.”
Dr. Stocks adds that even those without a diagnosed condition can still be adversely affected. “These particulates are actually linked with potential development of asthma in children and adults. And so those patients who are more sensitive to particular matter in the air, who don’t have diagnosed conditions, may also have problems with the current levels of pollution.”
COPD and asthma patients, he says, may need more aggressive treatment on days like what the area saw Thursday and will see for a portion of Friday. “These patients typically have decompensation, and they may need more aggressive treatment with more frequent use of their inhalers. And they may even need a short course of antibiotics or steroids to help improve their breathing.”
Long term exposure to these fine particulates over months and years, Dr. Stocks says, is linked to more than three million deaths each year worldwide. It also increases the risk and incidents of asthma and premature death from heart disease, and it can also affect lung growth in children. “When children are growing, they their lungs are not fully formed until their teens to early 20s. And so this long term exposure to these sorts of particulates can reduce total lung function by the time that the children are done growing.”
For the general public, Dr. Stocks recommends staying inside. If that’s not possible, he advises those who must be outside for an extended period Friday to wear a mask. N95s are the best, but a surgical mask will do as he says even with gaps between the mask and the skin, it blocks 15 to 30% of particulates.
Dr. Stocks says he was surprised the air quality in St. Cloud was worse than in the Twin Cities Thursday and hopes the smoke will clear in time for the Benton County Fair to start next week.
The current air quality alert expires at 3:00 Friday afternoon.
___
KNSI News Reporter Dene Dryden contributed to this story.
___
Copyright 2021 Leighton Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be broadcast, published, redistributed, or rewritten, in any way without consent.
FOLLOW US FOR INSTANT UPDATES!
FOLLOW US FOR INSTANT UPDATES!