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10 tips for coping with wildfire smoke, from a public health expert

10 tips for coping with wildfire smoke, from a public health expert

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3 years ago

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Wildfire smoke fills the San Francisco skyline on Sept. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Wildfires have burned millions of acres in the western United States this year. Tens of thousands have been evacuated and thousands of buildings and other structures destroyed. Thick smoke blankets much of the region — colouring the skies red and orange — and is flowing north into British Columbia and Alberta. Tens of millions of people have been exposed to these hazardous conditions.

Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture of fine particulate matter, called PM 2.5, and gases, such as volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. The composition of the mixture depends on many variables, including the fuels that are burning, the temperature of combustion, the weather and the distance from the fire. Although wildfire smoke is different from the air pollution caused by traffic and industry, it is also harmful to human health.

Wildfires cause episodes of the worst air quality that many people will ever experience. Fine particulate matter can be inhaled deep into the lungs, where it may lead to systemic inflammation that affects other parts of the body.

On smoky days, more people visit emergency rooms, more people are admitted to hospital and some people will die because of the smoke exposure. We also know that PM 2.5 can affect the immune system, which may make some people more susceptible to acute respiratory infections such as influenza and COVID-19.

Coping with intense and prolonged wildfire smoke is difficult, both physically and mentally. I have been studying how this unpredictable and extreme type of air pollution affects the respiratory and cardiovascular health of exposed populations for many years. Here are 10 tips to protect yourself and your family from the risks of wildfire smoke.

1. Understand your susceptibility

Some people are at higher risk of experiencing health effects from smoke, especially those who have asthma, COPD, heart disease, diabetes, other chronic conditions or acute infections such as COVID-19.

Pregnant women, infants, young children, older adults and people who work or live outdoors are also more susceptible. Anyone who uses rescue medications should carry them at all times.

Thick smoke fills the air around a ship.
A ship passes under the Lion’s Gate Bridge in Vancouver, B.C., on Sept. 14, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

2. Listen to your body

Different people can have very different reactions to the same amount of smoke. If you feel unwell, listen to your body and take actions to reduce your exposure.

The most common symptoms include eye irritation, sore throat, cough and headache, which usually disappear when the smoke disperses. Anyone who has more severe symptoms such as difficulty breathing or heart palpitations should seek medical attention.

Smoke is an environment hazard to be respected, not a personal challenge to be overcome.

3. Take it easy

The harder you breathe, the more smoke you inhale. The average resting adult breathes about six litres of air per minute, but this can easily increase to 60 litres during intense exercise.

Taking it easy is one of the simplest ways you can limit your exposure.

4. Use a portable air cleaner

Portable air cleaners with HEPA filters can significantly reduce indoor PM 2.5 concentrations when used properly. Smaller units can be used to keep one room relatively clean as a place to seek relief when needed.

A high quality furnace filter taped to a box fan can also do a pretty good job in a small room, although do-it-yourself devices should never be left running unattended.

Read more: How will Canada manage its wildfires in the future?

5. Seek comfortable spaces in the community

Public places such as libraries, community centres and shopping malls often have large air filtration systems and relatively good indoor air quality. Unfortunately, access to some of these spaces may be restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic, so making a comfortable space at home is more important than ever.

Firefighters work in a forest grove filled with haze.
A firefighter shoots an incendiary device during a back burn to help control the Dolan Fire at Limekiln State Park in Big Sur, Calif,. Sept. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

6. Consider wearing a protective mask

One silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic is that we have learned new things about face masks. Although a well-fitted N95 respirator will always be the best option for wildfire smoke, recent research shows that other masks can provide reasonable protection from PM 2.5 if they are closely fitted around the face. Masks with multiple layers of different materials were the best for filtering fine particles.

7. Drink plenty of water

I know, I know … everyone is always telling you to drink more water. Staying well-hydrated helps the kidneys and liver to remove toxins, which can reduce any systemic inflammation caused by wildfire smoke exposure.

8. Know where to find information

The air quality impacts of wildfire smoke can change fast. Know how to stay updated on conditions in your area. Smartphone apps such as the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) in Canada and SmokeSense in the United States can send alerts when air quality starts to deteriorate.

9. Pay attention to wildfire smoke forecasts

Forecasting wildfire smoke is even more difficult than forecasting the weather, but the models are improving every year. Tools such as FireWork in Canada and BlueSky in the U.S. show smoke predictions for the next 48 hours.

Read more: Climate change and wildfires – how do we know if there is a link?

10. Start preparing for next season now

Wildfire seasons are getting longer and more extreme as the climate changes. The best way to protect yourself from smoke is to plan and prepare well before the smoke arrives. There is increasing recognition that we must learn to live with wildfire and smoke in western North America.

On that note, I often get asked about the long-term health effects of extreme and repeated wildfire smoke exposures. Not much is known at this time, but it is an area of active research and I think we will learn a lot in the next five years. Even so, please remember that taking action to reduce exposure in the short-term will also help to protect you and your family in the long-term.

Sarah Henderson receives funding from Health Canada, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, BC Lung Association, and the BCCDC Foundation for Population and Public Health.

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Watch Yield Curve For When Stocks Begin To Price Recession Risk

Watch Yield Curve For When Stocks Begin To Price Recession Risk

Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,

US large-cap indices…

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20 mins ago

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May 31, 2023

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Watch Yield Curve For When Stocks Begin To Price Recession Risk

Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,

US large-cap indices are currently diverging from recessionary leading economic data. However, a decisive steepening in the yield curve leaves growth stocks and therefore the overall index facing lower prices.

Leading economic data has been signalling a recession for several months. Typically stocks closely follow the ratio between leading and coincident economic data.

As the chart below shows, equities have recently emphatically diverged from the ratio, indicating they are supremely indifferent to very high US recession risk.

What gives? Much of the recent outperformance of the S&P has been driven by a tiny number of tech stocks. The top five S&P stocks’ mean return this year is over 60% versus 0% for the average return of the remaining 498 stocks.

The belief that generative AI is imminently about to radically change the economy and that Nvidia especially is positioned to benefit from this has been behind much of this narrow leadership.

Regardless on your views whether this is overdone or not, it has re-established growth’s dominance over value. Energy had been spearheading the value trade up until around March, but since then tech –- the vessel for many of the largest growth stocks –- has been leading the S&P higher.

The yield curve’s behaviour will be key to watch for a reversion of this trend, and therefore a heightened risk of S&P 500 underperformance. Growth stocks tend to outperform value stocks when the curve flattens. This is because growth companies often have a relative advantage over typically smaller value firms by being able to borrow for longer terms. And vice-versa when the curve steepens, growth firms lose this relative advantage and tend to underperform.

The chart below shows the relationship, which was disrupted through the pandemic. Nonetheless, if it re-establishes itself then the curve beginning to durably re-steepen would be a sign growth stocks will start to underperform again, taking the index lower in the process.

Equivalently, a re-acceleration in US inflation (whose timing depends on China’s halting recovery) is more likely to put steepening pressure on the curve as the Fed has to balance economic growth more with inflation risks. Given the growth segment’s outperformance is an indication of the market’s intensely relaxed attitude to inflation, its resurgence would be a high risk for sending growth stocks lower.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/31/2023 - 13:20

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COVID-19 lockdowns linked to less accurate recollection of event timing

Participants in a survey study made a relatively high number of errors when asked to recollect the timing of major events that took place in 2021, providing…

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49 mins ago

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May 31, 2023

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Participants in a survey study made a relatively high number of errors when asked to recollect the timing of major events that took place in 2021, providing new insights into how COVID-19 lockdowns impacted perception of time. Daria Pawlak and Arash Sahraie of the University of Aberdeen, UK, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on May 31, 2023.

Credit: Arianna Sahraie Photography, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Participants in a survey study made a relatively high number of errors when asked to recollect the timing of major events that took place in 2021, providing new insights into how COVID-19 lockdowns impacted perception of time. Daria Pawlak and Arash Sahraie of the University of Aberdeen, UK, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on May 31, 2023.

Remembering when past events occurred becomes more difficult as more time passes. In addition, people’s activities and emotions can influence their perception of the passage of time. The social isolation resulting from COVID-19 lockdowns significantly impacted people’s activities and emotions, and prior research has shown that the pandemic triggered distortions in people’s perception of time.

Inspired by that earlier research and clinical reports that patients have become less able to report accurate timelines of their medical conditions, Pawlak and Sahraie set out to deepen understanding of the pandemic’s impact on time perception.

In May 2022, the researchers conducted an online survey in which they asked 277 participants to give the year in which several notable recent events occurred, such as when Brexit was finalized or when Meghan Markle joined the British royal family. Participants also completed standard evaluations for factors related to mental health, including levels of boredom, depression, and resilience.

As expected, participants’ recollection of events that occurred further in the past was less accurate. However, their perception of the timing of events that occurred in 2021—one year prior to the survey—was just an inaccurate as for events that occurred three to four years earlier. In other words, many participants had difficulty recalling the timing of events coinciding with COVID-19 lockdowns.

Additionally, participants who made more errors in event timing were also more likely to show greater levels of depression, anxiety, and physical mental demands during the pandemic, but had less resilience. Boredom was not significantly associated with timeline accuracy.

These findings are similar to those previously reported for prison inmates. The authors suggest that accurate recollection of event timing requires “anchoring” life events, such as birthday celebrations and vacations, which were lacking during COVID-19 lockdowns.

The authors add: “Our paper reports on altered timescapes during the pandemic. In a landscape, if features are not clearly discernible, it is harder to place objects/yourself in relation to other features. Restrictions imposed during the pandemic have impoverished our timescape, affecting the perception of event timelines. We can recall that events happened, we just don’t remember when.

#####

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0278250

Citation: Pawlak DA, Sahraie A (2023) Lost time: Perception of events timeline affected by the COVID pandemic. PLoS ONE 18(5): e0278250. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278250

Author Countries: UK

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Journal

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0278250

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Lost time: Perception of events timeline affected by the COVID pandemic

Article Publication Date

31-May-2023

COI Statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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Hyro secures $20M for its AI-powered, healthcare-focused conversational platform

Israel Krush and Rom Cohen first met in an AI course at Cornell Tech, where they bonded over a shared desire to apply AI voice technologies to the healthcare…

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2 hours ago

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May 31, 2023

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Israel Krush and Rom Cohen first met in an AI course at Cornell Tech, where they bonded over a shared desire to apply AI voice technologies to the healthcare sector. Specifically, they sought to automate the routine messages and calls that often lead to administrative burnout, like calls about scheduling, prescription refills and searching through physician directories.

Several years after graduating, Krush and Cohen productized their ideas with Hyro, which uses AI to facilitate text and voice conversations across the web, call centers and apps between healthcare organizations and their clients. Hyro today announced that it raised $20 million in a Series B round led by Liberty Mutual, Macquarie Capital and Black Opal, bringing the startup’s total raised to $35 million.

Krush says that the new cash will be put toward expanding Hyro’s go-to-market teams and R&D.

“When we searched for a domain that would benefit from transforming these technologies most, we discovered and validated that healthcare, with staffing shortages and antiquated processes, had the greatest need and pain points, and have continued to focus on this particular vertical,” Krush told TechCrunch in an email interview.

To Krush’s point, the healthcare industry faces a major staffing shortfall, exacerbated by the logistical complications that arose during the pandemic. In a recent interview with Keona Health, Halee Fischer-Wright, CEO of Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), said that MGMA’s heard that 88% of medical practices have had difficulties recruiting front-of-office staff over the last year. By another estimates, the healthcare field has lost 20% of its workforce.

Hyro doesn’t attempt to replace staffers. But it does inject automation into the equation. The platform is essentially a drop-in replacement for traditional IVR systems, handling calls and texts automatically using conversational AI.

Hyro can answer common questions and handle tasks like booking or rescheduling an appointment, providing engagement and conversion metrics on the backend as it does so.

Plenty of platforms do — or at least claim to. See RedRoute, a voice-based conversational AI startup that delivers an “Alexa-like” customer service experience over the phone. Elsewhere, there’s Omilia, which provides a conversational solution that works on all platforms (e.g. phone, web chat, social networks, SMS and more) and integrates with existing customer support systems.

But Krush claims that Hyro is differentiated. For one, he says, it offers an AI-powered search feature that scrapes up-to-date information from a customer’s website — ostensibly preventing wrong answers to questions (a notorious problem with text-generating AI). Hyro also boasts “smart routing,” which enables it to “intelligently” decide whether to complete a task automatically, send a link to self-serve via SMS or route a request to the right department.

A bot created using Hyro’s development tools. Image Credits: Hyro

“Our AI assistants have been used by tens of millions of patients, automating conversations on various channels,” Krush said. “Hyro creates a feedback loop by identifying missing knowledge gaps, basically mimicking the operations of a call center agent. It also shows within a conversation exactly how the AI assistant deduced the correct response to a patient or customer query, meaning that if incorrect answers were given, an enterprise can understand exactly which piece of content or dataset is labeled incorrectly and fix accordingly.”

Of course, no technology’s perfect, and Hyro’s likely isn’t an exception to the rule. But the startup’s sales pitch was enough to win over dozens of healthcare networks, providers and hospitals as clients, including Weill Cornell Medicine. Annual recurring revenue has doubled since Hyro went to market in 2019, Krush claims.

Hyro’s future plans entail expanding to industries adjacent to healthcare, including real estate and the public sector, as well as rounding out the platform with more customization options, business optimization recommendations and “variety” in the AI skills that Hyro supports.

“The pandemic expedited digital transformation for healthcare and made the problems we’re solving very clear and obvious (e.g. the spike in calls surrounding information, access to testing, etc.),” Krush said. “We were one of the first to offer a COVID-19 virtual assistant that deployed in under 48 hours based on trusted information from the health system and trusted resources such as the CDC and World Health Organization …. Hyro is well funded, with good growth and momentum, and we’ve always managed a responsible budget, so we’re actually looking to expand and gather more market share while competitors are slowing down.”

Hyro secures $20M for its AI-powered, healthcare-focused conversational platform by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

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