Air Quality Information
The following was sent to all members of the Boston University Community on Friday, June 9, 2023 from Dr. Judy Platt, MD, Chief Health Officer and Executive Director of Student Health Services, Bob Whitfield, Executive Director, Environmental Health and Safety, and Rene Fielding, Director, Emergency Management.
Dear Members of our Boston University Community,
Boston University is continuing to monitor the air quality due to the smoke from the Canadian wildfires. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection air quality alert for the state of Massachusetts ended at midnight on June 7. As of today, June 9, there are no air quality alerts for the Boston area and meteorologic experts predict no worsening of smoke or air quality is expected in the Boston area over the weekend. We recognize that members of our BU community are all over the country and the world at this time of year. We urge everyone to be informed about the air quality in your area. The air quality index or AQI provides information about the pollution in the air and suggests general recommendations for activity based upon the severity of pollution. Please see the Airgov.now graphic below for a quick reference. Real-time International Air Quality measurements and world-rankings can be found on IQAir.
Depending on where you currently reside, air quality could be unhealthy for sensitive groups. Sensitive groups include people with heart or lung disease, such as asthma, older adults, children, teenagers, and pregnant people. People who are active outdoors may also experience increased sensitivity. People in sensitive groups should limit outdoor activity and consider use of a high-quality filtering mask, such as a KN95, KF94, or FFP2/3 if prolonged outdoor time is unavoidable in areas with air quality indicated to be unhealthy for sensitive groups. Again, please refer to the air quality index references.
