The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has expanded its clean air filtration system program, officials aptly announced as the region faces unhealthy levels of air quality this weekend and throughout the wildfire season.
The program provides portable air filtration units to unsheltered and low-income residents.
This week, it was expanded to include three new counties, Marin, Napa and Solano, covering the entire Bay Area to provide about 3,000 people as wells as emergency and cooling centers with portable indoor home air filtration units and be used, according to the air district.
Increased levels of air pollution, in addition to smoke from wildfires, threatens the health of many residents, especially those with respiratory issues.
Exposure to unhealthy air quality, even if its short, can leave people with eye, sinus and throat irritation, even for people who are healthy.
And for those with respiratory disorders, it can be much worse.
One study showed that within two hours of exposure to wildfire smoke, there was an increase in ambulance calls for respiratory and cardiac distress, said Mary Prunicki, director of air pollution and health research at Stanford University.
“Wildfire smoke is something we all have to take very seriously,” Prunicki said. “The particulate matter coming from (wildfire smoke) is probably 10 times more toxic than particulate matter and air pollution– just general air pollution from cars and industry.”
Studies conducted in her lab also showed that wildfire smoke impacts immune systems and has been linked to increases in COVID infection rates and death rates.
But she said the air filtration systems provided by the air district will help mitigate some of the health impacts.
“Given that our healthcare resources are stretched, you know, any type of prevention that we can do is going to benefit all of us,” Prunicki continued.
More information on wildfire preparedness, school air quality recommendations, information on air quality data and other resources can be found at at www.baaqmd.gov/wildfiresafety.
To get more information about the Clean Air Filtration Program or see if you qualify, email AirFilters@baaqmd.gov.
Where do you put an air filtration system if you are “unsheltered” under a bridge? Asking for low-income trolls.
The article said that these are for unsheltered and low-income residents. Tell me how an air filtration system works in the unsheltered ie: outdoors?
They’re giving them to homeless shelters.
The website says you have to be diagnosed with a respiratory condition and be low-income.
There’s a pic of one on the web and it looks industrial, like for a very large room.
Air District expands Clean Air Filtration Program to all Bay Area counties (KRON on youtube)
https://youtu.be/dymnHwv0Phs
Woah that thing looks heavy duty. Probably costs the taxpayer $3000 apiece after all the bribes are taken care of.
WTF are we doing? HEPA filters for the homeless are you kidding me?!
We can’t make this chit up!
Yeah! Totally let’s just let people suffer and then put more strain on the health system!
I know this is difficult for almost everyone on this putrid website, but maybe read what they are doing instead of commenting blindly and only using the mayor’s shortened version of the truth.
Yog…
I read the full article on sfGate.
The only part that the mayor left out was in reference to other cities like SF, Oakland and San Jose. This blog hasn’t ever covered those areas. I don’t know why you even read it cuz you seem to hate it
And I think it’s a good question, “How do you filter the unhoused?”
You sound like you are regularly pissed off at the world.
I think a lot of them just feel left out. So they don’t want others getting any help. A lot of people seem to just only be able to care about immediate family and friends and unable to connect to society as a whole making it hard for them to develop empathy. It’s a thing there’s a name for it but it escapes me right now. It’s a tribal thing you’re not part of my bubble so go away.
Sometimes I wonder if the folks that make these decisions have lost minds.
*lost their minds
*their minds
What if we took all the Federal money we get to clear our forrest so our forrest dont burn. EVERYONE IS SUFFERING. Or how about telling us what they have been doing with that Fed money. ALL these years. RECALL Gavin
Fix the potholes.