Air Quality Alert Extended Through Tuesday Afternoon

MINNESOTA–It continues to be hazy in the Northland from wildfire smoke from Canada. It’s not going away too quickly as the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has extended their air quality alert until Tuesday afternoon.

Medical professionals from St. Luke’s warned how children, teenagers in athletics, people with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and other heart or lung conditions are advised to take extra precautions when spending time outside. 

Even those who are generally considered healthy should take extra precautions for their health, such as timing their time spent outside in the morning hours as that’s when both temperatures and ozone levels are at their lowest.

“If you have some kind of filter device either connected to an air conditioning system or even have devices that are inside your home that would remove particulate matter from the air,” said M.D. Amery Robinson, an emergency physician at St. Luke’s. “So that can be helpful, but then it’s waiting it out to get to a day where the air quality is better to do your outdoor activities.”

One way to tell if the air quality is getting to you is experiencing shortness of breath or difficulty breathing,  throat soreness, coughing, or fatigue. The air quality alert for the Northland is expected to lift Tuesday, July 24, by 3 p.m.