Salt Lake City (ABC 4 News) You can't see it in the dark, but its all around you. And tomorrow it will be waiting for you and your children. The bad air is here again and it is lingering along the Wasatch front. The Department of Air Quality says both Salt Lake and Davis Counties will experience an air action day tomorrow. While Utah and Weber Counties will experience moderate conditions.
That means shoppers out at Gateway tonight are not just taking in the holiday sights and sounds - they're also breathing in some fairly polluted air. Dr. Michelle Hofmann, a medical director at Primary Childrens in Riverton says the kind of particles we are breathing in "are so small that they by pass normal systems and get down deeper into the lungs and even blood stream - and exert swelling in the lungs as well as in the blood stream." She tells ABC 4 News - despite how that sounds - for most healthy people the current inversion and air quality levels are not a big deal. However, she says for those who have some medical issue they are a very big deal. I asked her if some people should lay off outdoor activities right now. Her response, "Absolutely. Move your activities indoors when its bad and you are sensitive."
But what about kids who may not know their sensitivity or health issues? We caught up with 15-year-old Chris Jolley and his friends at the Riverton Skate park. At one point it was obvious the high school sophomore was winded. But he says it wasn't from the riding - he blames the bad air. I asked if the was affecting him. Chris said, "It's pretty bad. I was getting winded a a lot." "Usually you take a couple runs and then sit down and its all good, but its bad today."
Dr. Hofmann says this is a good example of why people need to closely watch how they are reacting to the air quality and why she says if you are having symptoms you should track the levels outside, track your symptoms and "adjust your activity accordingly."
http://www.airquality.utah.gov/aqp/slc.html
