Security personnel wear masks as they stand guard during a hazy morning, on November 3, 2019 in New ... [+]
This is not just the Hazy Shade of Winter in Delhi, India. It is far worse. It is air pollution, and it’s reached hazardous levels.
Take a look at some of the tweets and accompanying photos from India’s capital city:
And what about this view, or rather a lack of a view:
This tweet mentioned an air quality index (AQI) of over 1000:
That would mean the air quality is way above the hazardous threshold according to the following scale provided by the Air Now U.S. government website:
- "Good" AQI is 0 to 50: satisfactory, and little or no risk.
- "Moderate" AQI is 51 to 100: acceptable. May be moderate health concern for very small number of people (e.g., those unusually sensitive to ozone may experience respiratory symptoms).
- "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" AQI is 101 to 150. General public not likely to be affected. But people with lung disease, older adults, and children at greater risk from ozone exposure. People with heart and lung disease, older adults and children at greater risk from particles in the air.
- "Unhealthy" AQI is 151 to 200. Potential adverse health effects for everyone and serious ones for those more sensitive.
- "Very Unhealthy" AQI is 201 to 300. Health alert. Everyone may have more serious health effects.
- "Hazardous" AQI greater than 300. Emergency conditions.
The AQI may not really be over 1000 in Delhi. It’s just that the air quality is so bad that it is exceeding the ability of the meters to read the levels per this tweet:
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the Government of India's Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Science & Technology, Earth Sciences had some advice to combat the pollution but not everyone was buying this Harsh advice:
Eh, what’s up doc? Even if you eat more carrots than Bugs Bunny until you turn orange, it’s not going to protect you against bad air pollution. No amount of healthy food or vitamins is going to do so.
Neither is starting your day with music as recommended by Prakash Javadekar, the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change:
You can play the song “mmmbop,” “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” or whatever happens to be your favorite tune as many times as you want on the sitar, but it’s not going to make you immune to air pollution.
The only real way to minimize the health effects of such bad pollution is to stay indoors as much as possible. Most paper masks would be essentially useless and simply muffle your words when you say, “the air smells terrible,” or “I can’t breathe.” Keep in mind that just because you don’t smell anything funny doesn’t mean that there isn’t air pollution. A specialized N95 respirator mask can filter out a lot of larger particles in the air but won’t keep out many gases and very fine particulate matter. Plus, the mask has to form a tight seal with your face, which means that it is not the most comfortable thing to wear. A beard or gigantic mutton chops could prevent such a seal. Anyone with breathing difficulties or anxiety may not want to wear such a mask. Also, the mask won’t protect your eyes and skin. You could try wearing a full body suit like Black Manta in the movie Aquaman but then you would have to battle Aquaman and Mera.
The situation in Delhi shows that you can’t wait until air pollution has reached hazardous levels to do something about it. It’s not as if a gigantic vacuum cleaner can suck away all the bad air. Air pollution can have many serious health effects both short-term (including irritating the respiratory tract, eyes, and other mucous membranes and causing exacerbation of chronic conditions such as lung and cardiovascular diseases) and long term (including lung disease and cancer). If everyone around the world doesn’t take air pollution more seriously and start doing much more about it, the music that you play in the morning may be “The Final Countdown.”
#News | https://sciencespies.com/news/delhis-air-pollution-is-so-bad-that-it-is-an-emergency/
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