NYC NOW - June 7, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

Mayor Adams holds a press conference as widespread haze and smoke prompts Air Quality and Health advisories for the entire region, Harlem's Apollo Theater names new president and in sports news, Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson return from injury for the Yankees, but lose Aaron Judge and Nestor Cortes. Finally, with the air being so bad for a second straight week as giant Canadian wildfires continue to spread, the worst air quality measured appears to be in the tri-state area. Wildfire smoke comes with a number of hazardous ingredients but the worst is arguably particulate matter. These microscopic particles can be breathed deep inside the lungs. WNYC’s Sean Carlson sits with clinical professor of Environmental Public Health Sciences at NYU, Jack Caravanos to discuss how people can protect themselves.

NYC now. Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Wednesday, June 7th. Here's the midday news from Lance Lucky. As you've been hearing, widespread haze and smoke has prompted air quality and health advisories across our region. Mayor Adams says the conditions will make it more difficult to be outside for the next several days. at a press conference this morning. Adam said the air quality may get better later tonight, but will deteriorate again starting early tomorrow afternoon. He blames the climate crisis. These dangerous air quality conditions are clearly an urgent reminder

that we must act now to protect our city, our environment, and the future of our children. Health officials recommend anyone with heart or lung conditions wear a high-quality N95 or K-N-95 mask. If you must be outside, better to stay indoors. though, if you possibly can. Harlem's Apollo Theater is getting a new leader. Michelle E. Banks will become the theater's

new president next month. She joins the storied organization after serving a CEO of Essen's Communications, the parent company of Essen's Magazine and Essence Fest. E. Banks takes the helm during a particularly transformative time at the Apollo. The historic venue is planning major renovations this summer and is expanding to a second

theater called the Victoria. Just days after a couple of big bats returned to the Yankees lineup in John Carlos Stanton and Josh Donaldson, two more Yankees have been put on the injured list. Slugger Aaron Judge is out with a contusion and ligament sprain in his right big toe. He sustained it while making a spectacular wall crashing catch at Dodger Stadium over the weekend. And lefty starter, Nestor Cortez is out with pain in his pitching shoulder. After last night's 3-2 loss to the White Sox at a hazy Yankee Stadium, manager Aaron Boone,

said Judge will be out for weeks, and Cortez won't throw a ball for at least another 10 days. Rookie Randy Vasquez makes his second year. Yankees start tonight in the hazy Bronx against the White Sox. On WN. MyC. On WN. MyC. I'm Sean Carlson. The air right now in our area is bad. For a second straight week, giant Canadian wildfires are spreading smoke across parts of the northeast. As of this afternoon, the worst air quality measured nationwide belongs to parts of New York and Connecticut. New Jersey is also afflicted. Wildfire smoke comes with a number of hazardous ingredients, but the worst is arguably

particulate matter. So here to explain the best ways for people to protect themselves is Jack Caravanos. He's a clinical professor of environmental public health sciences at NYU. Can you start by reminding us what exactly particulate matter is and why it is dangerous? Well, when you burn something and these are combustion particulates, you end up with tiny, tiny microscopic nanosized particles that are organic in nature, carbonaceous, and they penetrate deep into the lung. So, cigarette smoke is actually a good example of that. Those, that smoke, that haze is actually billions of tiny particles and they go pretty deep into the lung. What's the best way to keep it out of the lungs? Well, clearly the best way in public health is to prevent it from ever happening.

And that's a whole other discussion. Why are these fires happening and how can we prevent them from spreading and minimize them? But the reality is we can't rely on that all the time. So the most immediate way is personal protection. And these are, of course, masks and respirators that we use that you see firefighters using. So speaking of masks, we've seen people walking around wearing surgical masks. Are those good enough or do they want a higher quality one? Surgical masks will do something. As a matter of fact, anything over your mouth will have some beneficial effect. But we don't like those. We would prefer you wear at least an N95, a KN95, which is a very tight filter material. And we have learned a lot from COVID.

But the key thing is that this thing should fit very tightly around your nose and cheeks so that you don't get any bypass. The biggest concern I have with what we saw during COVID is people were very good at wearing masks, but they weren't good at wearing them the right way. Now, the air quality index is a color-coded system for judging the safety of what we breathe in. Orange tells people with asthma and chronic conditions to be on guard. red, where New York City has been at all day, elevates that warning for more members of the general public. But what does that mean for people? Like, what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to change our behavior to stay protected? We have to breathe the air, don't we? Absolutely. There's no way around that, but we could definitely do things to minimize our exposure.

The red stands for unhealthy. And the conditions that causes are kind of rare. We have a forest fire, which is very low to the ground, blowing in from a odd direction. We, we don't. don't usually get winds from the north. And it's coming right down the Hudson Valley, right into Philadelphia, New York, Trenton, Connecticut, Boston, that whole area is being inundated with this cloud. And the best way for now is to really minimize any type of physical activity that would exacerbate the deposition of these particles into your lungs. And that means go easy on the jogging, go easy on the tennis, try to stay indoors, because the indoor air will stay cleaner longer, assuming we're not opening windows. So it may be safer just to stay indoors.

And of course, if you are going outside and you have a respiratory condition of any type, definitely a respirator, an N95, K-N95 would be advisable. You mentioned the causes of the smoke being here, those wildfires in Canada. Record heat is driving those. New Jersey is also on pace for a record year for fires. Obviously, climate change is at play here. You know, you talk to people from California who say, well, these fires are just kind of a way of life now. They just kind of expect them every year. Do people need to be prepared for smoke hazards going forward here? Is this a regular part of life now? Well, I think all estimates seem to indicate that this is only going to get worse, that the droughts are lasting longer,

and we're seeing higher temperatures. And already we're seeing this just in New York last week. I believe it was over 90 degrees, and it was only May. So I think we need to be prepared for more of this. To say it's a fluke, it won't happen again, is, I think, short-sighted. And of course, there's a lot of things we could do with forest fires and do better forest management, so there's some solutions that way. But ultimately, we need to get ready for more of these changes. I don't think there's anything you and I can do in the next six months

that will minimize forest fires. But society as a whole needs to act. Jack Garvanos is clinical professor of environmental public health sciences at NYU. Professor, thanks for coming on. Breathe easy out there. Thank you very much. I will. Thank you.

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