Was NYC unprepared for the air quality crisis? Mayor Adams draws criticism.

Most New Yorkers realized on Tuesday that there was clearly something bad going on with the city’s air quality.

By the early evening, photos of sepia-toned skylines were flooding social media feeds. And by 10 p.m., the city's air quality rating reached 218, a dangerous level that poses risks to children and those with asthma and heart conditions.

But the response by Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials to conditions brought on by smoke from Canadian wildfires struck some elected officials as too little, too late. It has raised questions about how prepared New York City is for what experts say will become an increasingly common phenomenon due to climate change.

At his briefing Wednesday morning at the city’s emergency management headquarters in Brooklyn, Adams described the thick hazy conditions an “unprecedented event.”

The mayor said he noticed the poor air quality on Tuesday.

“I went outdoors and basically said, ‘What the hell is this?” he told reporters. He said he even phoned his family members who had respiratory issues and told them to stay indoors.

However, it was not until 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday when City Hall issued a statement, which included an announcement that all outdoor activities at public schools would be canceled.

A letter sent to principals said that all outdoor activities, including recess and after school, should be moved indoors or otherwise be canceled.

When a reporter asked the mayor about why his office had responded so late with a statement, Adams defended the administration’s response.

“This was an extremely fast-moving issue,” Adams said. He noted that city officials had issued “several tweets” throughout the day.

“There’s no blueprint or playbook for these types of issues,” he added.

His comments drew criticism from several lawmakers, including City Comptroller Brad Lander, who noted that cities in California routinely grapple with poor air quality.

“We needed to have a playbook,” Lander said, adding that in the absence of a plan, city officials “scrambled to get information up.”

At the news conference, the mayor was flanked by commissioners as well as other senior cabinet members.

Zach Iscol, the city’s emergency management commissioner, said air quality ratings over 150 were rare occurrences in New York City.

“So we knew we had a problem once we went above 150, and that's when we convened,” he said.

City officials said although the air quality may improve on Thursday, the crisis would be a “multi-day event.” They urged New Yorkers to limit outdoor activity as well as keep their windows and doors closed.

There have not been any signs of increased emergency room visits as a result of the air pollution, according to health officials. However, the city is advising older adults and those with breathing or heart issues to wear high-quality masks, such as N95s.

When he was asked whether the city intended to distribute such masks to vulnerable communities, Ashwin Vasan, the city’s health commissioner, replied that the city was “working through that plan.”

“There's obviously PPE that we've stockpiled throughout the pandemic,” he said, referring to personal protective equipment such as masks. “And deploying that appropriately is something we've definitely considered and are considering.”

Jessica Ramos, a state senator who represents a portion of Queens known as “asthma alley,” expressed frustration with the mayor’s response. She said the briefing left many questions unanswered.

“We know there are going to be a lot of workers making their living outside,” she said. “Is the mayor talking to any major employers? Should construction sites be shut down for the next few days?”

She said city officials should be considering a litany of immediate policies, including asking employers to distribute masks, urging city residents to curtail driving in the next few days so as to limit exhaust emissions, and suspending check out rules at city shelters so people can stay indoors.

“This is a very serious public crisis that the mayor is not taking seriously,” she added.

Ramos, who previously worked under Mayor Bill de Blasio, expressed incredulity that the mayor pointed to tweets from city officials in defending their response.

“When you communicate to New Yorkers, you use every single medium available to you,” she said. “Social media is not enough. It is the floor.”

Lincoln Restler, a Brooklyn-based councilmember, also faulted Adams’ response, saying that he had taken few concrete steps other than canceling outdoor school activities.

“The Mayor’s hastily arranged press conference this AM seemed more focused on defending his lack of response rather than taking immediate action to help New Yorkers,” he said on Twitter.

Restler called for an oversight hearing on the city’s response.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams issued a statement late Wednesday that also criticized the city's response.

"These alerts and recommendations could and should have been made both earlier and more clearly," he said. "Special care should have been taken to communicate quickly and effectively with vulnerable, non-English speaking communities, and to parents and caregivers unsure of what the risk was and what precautions were being taken. Government must always be prepared with information, and with a plan to disseminate that information to all New Yorkers."

Dr. Jay Varma, the former top health adviser to de Blasio, said city officials should target assistance to residents in places like public housing, who are more susceptible to health issues associated with poor air quality and have less access to high-quality masks.

He said it was unclear to him whether the administration’s response was too slow given that such conditions are unusual in New York City.

“I think the more important question is what is the city going to do to prepare itself in the future,” he said.

The current crisis, he added, circles back to a policy question that emerged during the pandemic.

“How do we restructure our indoor environment so that the air is safer either from infection or environmental hazards?” he said.

This story has been updated with comment from Councilmember Lincoln Restler and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.