California Residents Told to Shut Windows, Avoid Driving In Multiple Areas

Americans living in several parts of California have been advised to remain indoors and limit outdoor activities due to poor air quality, after the National Weather Service (NWS) issued an Air Quality Alert.

The NWS warned that the elevated levels of harmful particles in the air could pose health risks, particularly for people with lung or heart disease, older adults, people who are pregnant, children, and those who spend a lot of time outdoors.

Air pollution — A person crosses a street as smog fills the air Wednesday, December 4, 2024, in Los Angeles.

Andy Bao/AP

Why It Matters

Air Quality Alerts are typically issued when pollutants such as fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5, reach harmful levels. These pollutants can come from a variety of sources, including vehicle emissions, industrial activity, wildfires, and weather patterns that prevent pollution from dispersing.

Exposure to particle pollution has been found in various studies to result in a wide range of serious health problems, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, such as nonfatal heart attacks, irregular heart beat, aggravated asthma, decreased lung function and increased respiratory symptoms.

What We Know

The NWS raised the alarm in conjunction with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) for a number of cities in Coachella Valley in Riverside County.

These included Indio, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Palm Desert, La Quinta, and Coachella, due to the level of harmful particle pollution in the air from “windblown dust.”

According to the EPA, an AQI reading above 100 can be harmful, especially to people with respiratory conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Readings above 150 are considered unhealthy for the general public, while levels exceeding 200 are categorized as “Very Unhealthy.”

The alert is in place from Monday at 11 a.m. local time until Tuesday 11 a.m.

The NWS advises Californians to check the Air Quality Index (AQI) levels for their area. If levels are orange, they are unhealthy for vulnerable groups, and those people should limit outdoor activity, and if levels are red, then the air quality is unhealthy for all groups.

If levels are marked purple, this indicates that the air quality poses an even higher risk to health, while an AQI colored maroon means the air quality is “hazardous” to all people, and “everyone should avoid all outdoor physical activity,” until conditions improve.

The NWS said in its alert, that people in affected areas should keep windows and doors closed, run air conditioning and/or air purifiers, and not use whole house fans or swamp coolers that bring outside air in.

What People Are Saying

The World Health Organization (WHO) said: “Almost every organ in the body can be impacted by air pollution. Due to their small size, some air pollutants are able to penetrate into the bloodstream via the lungs and circulate throughout the entire body leading to systemic inflammation and carcinogenicity.”

“Health problems in children and adults can occur because of both short- and long-term exposure to air pollutants. The levels and duration of exposure that can be considered ‘safe’ vary by pollutant, as well as the related disease outcomes. For some pollutants, there are no thresholds below which adverse effects do not occur.”