CLEVELAND — Ohio has been experiencing a lot of smog due to the Canadian wildfires and has the chance to impact people’s health. Dr. Neha Solanki, a pulmonologist for Cleveland Clinic, explained the effects it could have.
“Wildfire smoke, which is what this is, it’s all from the Canadian wildfires, has in it toxic particles, toxic fumes, that we breathe in when we’re outside and this causes inflammation in our sinuses, in our airways, causes our eyes to become watery, can cause headaches and can cause worsening of underlying respiratory conditions,” she said.
The Fourth of July holiday weekend is coming up and Solanki said it’s unclear if the smoke will have cleared by then.
“A lot of it is going to depend on how long the wildfires continue burning. I certainly hope that this will have cleared by July 4, the timing is obviously not good, but there really is no way of knowing at this time,” she said.
This has the chance to impact businesses, too, such as Cleveland Sailing Charters. Scott Sanders, the captain of the charter boat, said his business thrives this time of year, but these conditions could temporarily suspend some charters.
“Have to give strong thought about whether we would reschedule that for another day that was less filled with smoke,” he said.
Sanders said he is hopeful ahead of the holiday weekend that this will all clear up.
“The good news is that they’re forecasting the winds to switch around to the south and southwest which tends to this smoke out of the area, at least temporarily until the winds change,” he said.
He explained that his No. 1 priority is people’s safety, but that the air quality alerts are just another thing to consider before heading out on the water.
“I principally look at the ambient conditions to see what’s going on and also the regular weather forecast, but now of course we’re adding in these air quality alerts,” he said.
The Ohio Department of Health has encouraged people to stay inside until the air quality alerts end.
