Red alert air day causing health concerns

Tonya Papanikolas The Division of Air Quality has put out the red alerts warning people about our air right now. The winter inversion has trapped pollutants down in the valleys causing some health concerns.

We've been really lucky this winter because we've had so much continuous snow. It's helped to clean out the air and left us with fewer inversions and pollution than we usually see this time of year. But now we're between storms and again seeing the haze that creates a lot of concern.

Looking from the air, haze muddies the horizon of Salt Lake County. In Utah County, things look even worse--like white clouds covering the valley. On days like this, people with lung and heart disease have to be very careful outside.

"My asthma was originally diagnosed after a day like this when I was out exercising and felt myself just totally unable to breathe," Utah resident Bonnie Midget said.

Midget now won't exercise outside on a "red air" day. "I reach a point where I can't breathe, where I can hardly move," she explained.

The red alert from the Division of Air Quality means the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups. "We know that there's more heart attacks and strokes--and those don't necessarily come with the warning signs," said Dr. Michelle Hofmann, pediatrician at Primary Children's Medical Center.

The elderly and children are also significantly at risk. "For children, we even know that its long-term exposures are impacting the lung development and function," Hofmann said. "Staying inside is what they recommend. I think that's just a band-aid, unfortunately."

Hofmann, who also helped found the group Utah Moms for Clean Air, says some of the bad air also goes inside. She believes the public needs to start thinking about preventing the pollution in the first place. "Drive less, drive more smartly, don't speed, don't accelerate so quickly from a stop. All of these things release more pollutants into the air," Hofmann said.

With red alert air days predicted until at least Wednesday, Hofmann says habits and practices need to change. "This isn't all industry, this is us too. We need to take ownership of the problem and start thinking about ways we can start being proactive," she said.

Hofmann told us at least half of the particulate matter in the air is coming from cars and trucks. She says even healthy people can have symptoms from it, especially if they're exercising outside.

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