'Outdoors is dangerous': NY leaders respond as air quality index becomes hazardous

As New York City became engulfed in smoke from Canadian wildfires Wednesday, city and state elected officials were unified in their messaging: New Yorkers should stay indoors as much as possible to avoid the hazardous air outside.

During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Kathy Hochul described the situation as a “health and environmental crisis,” and urged New Yorkers to wear N95 masks when stepping outside. One hour later, Mayor Eric Adams echoed the governor’s message, calling the crisis “climate change in action.”

The messaging from elected officials came after a day of images of an orange-tinted New York City flooded social media. Throughout the day Wednesday, airports announced shutdowns while government agencies and event venues rolled out cancellations due to the smoke. Some criticized the mayor for not being better prepared for the situation.

On a state level, Hochul said more than 1 million masks would be made available through the state with 400,000 at state facilities and another 600,000 at state Homeland Security stockpiles for local governments to pick up. Jack Caravanos, a clinical professor of environmental public health sciences at NYU, told Gothamist N95, a KN95 masks can help filter the particles in the air.

The state is also offering fire rangers to Canada to help get the fires under control.

Hochul said the latest forecast showed the smoke moving westward and would reach Buffalo and Western New York on Thursday. She repeatedly asked New Yorkers throughout the state to avoid going outside.

“Outdoors is dangerous in just about every part of our state. Not just vulnerable communities but literally everyone — we normally are accustomed to talking about children, babies, people with compromised immune system senior citizens, but this is something that's having an effect on everyone,” Hochul said. “We're recommending that people cancel their outdoor activities. You don't need to go out and run tonight. You don't need to go out and take a walk. You don't need to push the baby in the stroller. This is not a safe time to do that.”

The Air Quality Index, which measures pollution in the air, changed rapidly from hour to hour Wednesday. Anything above 101 is unhealthy, while anything above 301 is considered hazardous. But at a press conference Wednesday evening, Adams said that measurement hit 484 in the city at 5 p.m.

“We have all seen, smelled, and the pictures really speaks volumes as you look at the Empire State Building that's engulfed,” Adams said. “On the levels of health concerns, that is clearly alarming for all New Yorkers. This is the highest level index of our knowledge since the 60s.”

Adams said conditions were expected to see-saw through the evening Wednesday and into Thursday, with the potential for improvement by the end of the work week, though, “smoke predictability that far out is low.”

Due to the difficulty of predicting smoke movement, the city could not provide guidance for more than a day in advance, the mayor said.

“As a result, we're encouraging New Yorkers to stay home indoors tonight and tomorrow whenever possible, especially our vulnerable New Yorkers. All New Yorkers should limit outdoor activity to the greatest extent possible,” Adams said. “If you must be outside, we recommend wearing a mask, especially if you are elderly or a younger child.”

The mayor said city services would continue to be available to New Yorkers Thursday, but all outdoor activity would remain canceled.

Contributed reporting by Nsikan Akpan, Elizabeth Shwe and Sean Carlson