Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is forecasting unhealthy air quality today through Thursday.
DEEP air quality analysts said weather patterns will create elevated ground-level ozone pollution in all of Connecticut.
“We are expecting air quality that will impact all of our citizens especially the most vulnerable residents – children, the elderly and those with respiratory disease such as asthma,” Commissioner Robert Klee said in a news release. “It will also impact healthy adults working or exercising outdoors – to minimize health impacts while working outdoors avoid prolonged strenuous activity and best if you exercise before noon or after 8 p.m.”
For children and adults who live with asthma, COPD and other respiratory conditions, unhealthy air on hot summer days can trigger or worsen respiratory ailments, said Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Raul Pino.
People with respiratory conditions should avoid prolonged periods of time outdoors on poor air quality days by staying in cool, air conditioned indoor environments, Pino said, adding that if exposure to the outdoors is unavoidable, rescue inhalers and medications should be readily available and overexertion avoided.
Multiday air quality alerts have been rare in recent years, DEEP said. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a more protective ozone standard for air quality last year after more understanding of the dangers of elevated ozone levels. This new standard is expected to lead to an increase in the number of forecasted unhealthy air quality days in Connecticut this summer – even though the state’s air quality has steadily improved through the years. EPA’s new national air quality standard for ground level ozone is 70 parts per billion, down from 75 ppb, DEEP said.
