NBC Bay Area’s Marianne Favro and Jeff Ranieri provide the latest on the region’s poor air quality due to wildfires burning up north.
The smoky air currently hanging over the Bay Area can do much more than cause people to cough. For some, it can trigger serious health issues.
"A reading in the 150 [air quality index] range is equivalent to smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day," Kaiser Permanente pulmonologist Dr. Thomas Dailey said. "In the 50-100 level, its like smoking a quarter pack of cigarettes a day."
Dailey said when inhaled the tiny particles from the smoke can lead to big health problems.
"They can cause inflammation in the lungs," he said. "That's why it impacts people with emphysema and asthma. Some particles are so small they can get into your blood stream and cause heart attacks and strokes."
Dailey said people with respiratory illnesses such as asthma, those with heart disease and children who have lungs still developing are most at risk from the bad air.
Dailey recommends people stay indoors, set the ventilation in their vehicle to recirculate mode and wear an N-95 mask when outside.
He added that people shouldn't exercise outdoors because they'll be breathing faster and taking in even more dangerous particles.
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