On this edition of Your Call, we’re discussing the health effects of wildfire smoke. While the Bay Area’s air quality has been mostly spared, Tahoe and Reno currently have some of the worst air quality in the world.
In 2020, the Bay Area experienced a record 30 straight days of bad air quality alerts in August and September. A new Harvard study finds that wildfire smoke likely contributed to thousands of COVID-19 deaths in California, Oregon and Washington. How can we protect ourselves?
Guests:
Dr. Francesca Dominici, Professor of Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Co-Director of the Data Science Initiative at Harvard University
Dr. Gina Solomon, Principal Investigator at the Public Health Institute in Oakland and Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of California San Francisco. Dr. Solomon is also on the advisory council of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District
Web Resources:
Spare the Air: The best masks to protect yourself from wildfire smoke
Air District to provide around 2,000 individuals living in the Bay Area with portable indoor home air filtration units
CBS News, Tori Powell: Caldor Fire threatens Lake Tahoe area with hazardous air quality levels
NPR, Farida Jhabvala Romero: Inhaling Wildfire Smoke May Contribute To Thousands Of Additional COVID Cases
NY Times, Jill Cowan: How Dangerous Is Wildfire Smoke?
NBC News, Denise Chow, Steve Patterson and Bita Ryan: Tiny smoke particles could make wildfires particularly harmful to human health
