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As of Thursday morning, air filters were the top gainers in sales for tools and home improvement products on Amazon over the past 24 hours. Searches on Google for air purifiers have increased 16 fold since Monday, according to Google trends. Johnson Controls, which has a number of air filters on the market, has also seen its stock price soar. The air purifier market is poised to grow as climate change increases air pollution and exacerbates breathing difficulties. Climate change will worsen existing air pollution and lead to more dangerous air quality days like the current one in the Northeast.

Persons: humidifier, Johnson Organizations: New, New York CNN, Google, United States, Carrier Global, Johnson Controls, Economic Co, Environmental Protection Agency Locations: New York, United States, “

Smoke from wildfires in Quebec has settled over southern Ontario and travelled into the United States, disrupting flights and sending people indoors. On Wednesday mask supplier United Canada sent out an email with "Wildfire Season Safety Tips" that included an N95 mask. It's "a little disheartening" to be wearing a mask again, she said, but "that's what you have to do. Hume-Beardall added she hopes the spectre of smoky air "is a little bit of a wakeup call to people around the environment." Studies in people have linked wildfire smoke with higher rates of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiac arrests, increases in emergency room visits for respiratory conditions, and weakened immune defenses.

Persons: Canada Strong, Rivi Hume, Hume, Beardall, Samantha Green, Green, Marietta Haberer, Anna Mehler Paperny, Diane Craft Organizations: TORONTO, United Canada, Reuters, Unity Health, Toronto . Studies, Thomson Locations: Canada, Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, United States, Toronto

☆ New York is choking on smog. But for these cities, it’s just another day
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Jessie Yeung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Hong Kong CNN —For days, images of New York choking in smoke have stunned the United States, as residents struggle to deal with the unfamiliar challenge of severe air pollution. That means its people are exposed to high levels of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, a widely used indicator of harmful air pollution. It culminated in the infamous 2013 “air-pocalypse,” when the air quality index hit 755, smashing what was supposed to be the top of the scale at 500, according to the US Embassy in Beijing that kept a daily air quality monitor. In 2021, Beijing recorded its best monthly air quality since records began in 2013; photos now show mostly blue skies in the city. It’s an encouraging sign, and evidence that the right policies and investment can help fix air quality.

Persons: smothers, Andrew Kelly, Sanchit Khanna, Chiang Mai, Nicolas Asfouri, Justin Trudeau, Joe Biden, ”, Lucky Tran Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Rockefeller Center, Reuters, Hindustan Times, Embassy, Canadian, United Nations, East Coasters Locations: Hong Kong, York, United States, Canada, Coast, West Coast, California, Asia, New York, India, New Delhi, Southeast Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Beijing, AFP, –, China, It’s, South Carolina, Quebec, Yorkers

☆ From Wildfire Smoke to Covid, Air Quality Is the Issue of Our Time - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Linsey Marr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Those who are paying attention and have the resources can take steps to improve their air quality and protect their health. Indoors, the portable air filtration unit that some people used to scrub viruses from the air will also remove smoke particles. Air pollution, including wildfire smoke, causes symptoms like coughing, burning eyes, headaches and difficulty breathing in the short term. Furthermore, poor air quality is linked to increased absences from school and work and worse academic performance and cognitive function. The White House held the Summit on Improving Indoor Air Quality, and the Environmental Protection Agency issued the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge.

Organizations: Environmental Protection Agency

☆ N95 Masks Helped Protect Against the Coronavirus. They Also Work Against Wildfire Smoke.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

As smoke from wildfires in Canada drifts over large parts of the United States, the best thing to do to prevent breathing in pollutants on Wednesday is to stay indoors. So if you do have to brave the outdoors, putting on a mask is the next best thing. But beware, not all masks work equally well. N95 masks can filter tiny particles that are less than 0.3 micrometers. Instead, use N95 face masks (you may still have some of those left from the pandemic), or respirator masks, which you can find in hardware stores or online.

Locations: Canada, United States

☆ Explainer: What are the health risks from wildfire smoke?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Nancy Lapid | Thomson Reuters | Nancy Has Been A Health News Editor At Reuters For More Than A Decade. Previously She Was A Writer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

More toxic than normal air pollution, wildfire smoke can linger in the air for weeks and travel hundreds of miles. Along with particles of soil and biological materials, wildfire smoke often contains traces of chemicals, metals, plastics and other synthetic materials. New data from California also show an increase in fungal infections in the months following wildfire smoke exposure, likely due to fungal spores in the smoke. But the health effects of wildfire smoke exposure over multiple seasons are not yet clear. Doug Brugge, who chairs the Department of Public Health Sciences at UConn School of Medicine, said wildfire smoke can be deadly.

Persons: Kent Pinkerton, Davis, Keith Bein, Doug Brugge, Nancy Lapid, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Center for Health, University of California, UC, Davis . Studies, Environment, UC Davis, U.S . Environmental Protection Agency, of Public Health Sciences, UConn School of Medicine, Thomson Locations: United States, Canada, New York City, California, U.S

☆ Face masks are still a good idea at the doctor’s office, study says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

But they remain in many medical offices, and a study published Monday says they might still be a good idea. The study, published in the journal the Annals of Internal Medicine, also found that there wasn’t a significant difference in protection between surgical masks and N95 respirators in a health care setting. Because gold standard evidence about their protectiveness is not available, they say, masks for patients and health care personnel should be considered a good safety measure. Lab studies show that surgical masks and respirators are good at limiting the spread of aerosols and droplets from people who are sick with the flu, coronaviruses and other respiratory viruses. “We all realize the importance and utility of a mask,” Madad said.

☆ Do Masks Work To Prevent Covid? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Jennifer B. Nuzzo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

‌There is good evidence that masks can protect ‌‌people who use them correctly and consistently. Other studies show that higher-quality masks, such as N95 respirators, are better able to keep the virus out than less well-fitting surgical masks or cloth masks. ‌And according to that limited evidence, masking at the population level did not have a clear impact on reducing infections. To address the quality issue of these studies, the Cochrane review looked only at randomized trials evaluating the effectiveness of masking. ‌‌Many of the studies that the Cochrane review included looked at the spread of influenza.

☆ Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +55 min

Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’ In his most extensive interview yet, Anthony Fauci wrestles with the hard lessons of the pandemic — and the decisions that will define his legacy. But when people say, “Fauci shut down the economy” — it wasn’t Fauci. But somehow or other, the general public didn’t get that feeling that the vulnerable are really, really heavily weighted toward the elderly. We also had a public-health system that we thought was really, really good. But it was really, really antiquated.

☆ Why I signed up to live on a cruise ship for three years
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Francesca Street | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —When Sharon Lane heard about a cruise company offering a three-year-long voyage around the world, she immediately started fantasizing about life on board. While it’s long been Lane’s dream to live on a cruise ship full time, the steep cost has always been a barrier. I don’t know, the sky’s the limit.”Preparing for a new lifeSharon Lane will spend three years living on the MV Gemini cruise ship, pictured here. The 130-square-feet cabin has no window, but guests have been promised a screen that will broadcast live footage from outside the ship. Lane won’t disembark the ship in certain destinations, like Antarctica, where the cold air might aggravate her lungs.

☆ What is a red flag warning? What to know as fire weather conditions affect more parts of the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Chris Panella | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Here's what to know when you see a red flag warning in your area, and how to protect yourself. Red flag warnings indicate dry, arid weather and strong wind conditions that increase the possibility of dangerous wildfires. One map shared on Twitter by climate reporter Dave Levitan shows the latest range of red flag warnings stretching from New Mexico to Massachusetts. Be careful with cigarettes during a red flag warning. Lastly, the NWS has some basic guidelines to avoid igniting fires during a red flag warning:

☆ Three Years Into Covid, We Still Don’t Know How to Talk About It
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Jon Mooallem | Photographs Ashley Gilbertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +53 min

It will play out and reverberate for years or decades, Hagen told me. “The pathological normal,” Hagen calls it: a patchwork of homespun, bespoke realities, each one invested in a different story about what exactly happened when Covid ruptured the story of our lives. garb.”More than once, life seemed to be attaining “an uncanny resemblance to normal life,” as one man put it. But because we don’t totally understand where that experience has delivered us, we don’t know the right gloss to give it. “The days are strange,” one public-school teacher told Milstein toward the end of his first interview, in May 2020.

☆ New York and L.A. meet CDC criteria for masking in public. How much will masks help this winter?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Aria-Bendix-Byline-Jm.Jpg | Aria Bendix | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

The Philadelphia school district announced Wednesday that students and staff will be required to wear masks indoors for two weeks in January in an effort to slow transmission after the holidays. The New York City Department of Education issued a letter this week strongly encouraging students and staff to wear a well-fitting mask indoors. After three years of Covid, however, experts recognized that few people are inclined to wear masks as often as they had previously while in public spaces. But Luby said he still wears a mask in public, even when others around him do not. “I find myself in that situation a lot — I’m the only person in the room wearing a mask," he said.

Hong Kong CNN —James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” has premiered in China, 13 years after the original film took the country by storm. A poster of film 'Avatar: The Way of Water' is seen at a cinema on December 11, 2022 in Beijing, China. I immersed myself in the plot and enjoyed an unprecedented audio-visual feast.”Shot in the armThe “Way of Water” is expected to buoy China’s pandemic-depressed box office. By mid-December, China’s box office reached only 28.8 billion yuan ($4.1 billion), down nearly 40% from last year. The “Way of Water” accounted for 80% of screenings scheduled for Friday, the Maoyan data showed.

☆ The triple threat of the influenza, Covid and RSV
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Alex Rees | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The United States is facing a triple threat, with a confluence of viral infections due to respiratory syncytial virus, influenza and Covid-19. Already, children’s hospitals across the United States are filled with kids infected with viruses, including RSV and influenza. While most people who contract RSV, influenza, Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses will have mild symptoms, those most vulnerable could become severely ill, require intensive care and even die. CNN: Is a cloth mask or regular medical mask enough? Those individuals can wear two medical masks or a cloth mask on top of a medical mask.

☆ Democrats detail effects of early pandemic failures in new Senate report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Shannon-Pettypiece-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Shannon Pettypiece | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The 242-page report, written by Democrats on the panel, cited long-term weaknesses in the country’s public health infrastructure, from staffing shortages and inadequate disease surveillance to poor testing systems. But the report indicated that the pandemic shortcomings extended beyond the Trump administration. Similarly, a DHS report said 96% of pharmacy owners and managers were already reporting a shortage of surgical masks, according to the report. It issued a variety of recommendations, including increasing funding to improve public health surveillance, data systems, health care surge capacity, domestic manufacturing capabilities and stockpiles of critical supplies. "This is not the first public health crisis that our nation has faced, and sadly, it won't be the last," Peters said.

“The world changed overnight, and that’s really amazing,” said Echo Ding, 30, a manager at a tech company in Beijing. They said it’s good, so then it’s good … that’s what I feel right now. In Beijing, authorities on Wednesday said a health code showing a negative Covid-19 test would still be required for dining in at restaurants or entering some entertainment venues – in conflict with the national guidelines. Now, with the new rules she knew she could largely go out freely, but instead she stayed at home to “wait and see.”“We are still waiting and watching. It is not the case that people all rushed out once the seal is off,” she said.

☆ Measles outbreak in central Ohio grows to more than 50 children, driven by ‘lack of vaccination’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —A measles outbreak in central Ohio is growing, sickening more than 50 children, with many of them needing hospitalization, according to data updated Tuesday by Columbus Public Health. “Measles can be very serious, especially for children under age 5,” Columbus Public Health spokesperson Kelli Newman wrote in an email Monday. In the Ohio outbreak, the hospitalized children have been seen at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “For measles, it is the most infectious disease we have,” she said. Pediatric hospitals already strainedWhile the measles outbreak spreads across central Ohio, the United States has been battling a surge of respiratory illnesses, such as flu and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

BEIJING, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Chinese residents have rushed to snap up COVID-19 antigen kits and medicines for fevers and colds, as the country's recent easing of prevention measures triggered widespread concern among the public that they could now catch the virus. "People around me are all buying antigen kits and I also bought 50," said 40-year-old Beijing resident Huang Yuqi, working for an entertainment company. "Now the country is entering a new phase in terms of pandemic policy and I'm unsure about what will happen next. Shandong-based pharmaceutical company Buchang Pharma (603858.SS) told local news outlet Cailianshe that its factory making a Chinese medicine for lung disease was working around the clock due to "huge demand". The rush to stock up on COVID treatments drew scorn in state media.

☆ Updated boosters add limited protection against Covid-19 illness, first real-world study shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The new study found that the updated boosters work about like the original boosters. Compared with people who were unvaccinated, adults 18 to 49 who had gotten bivalent boosters were 43% less likely to get sick with a Covid-19 infection. The relative vaccine effectiveness showed the added protection people might expect on top of whatever protection they had left after previous vaccine doses. So overall, the updated boosters got them to around 50% effectiveness against symptomatic infection. According to CDC data, roughly two-thirds of Americans have completed at least their primary series of Covid-19 vaccines.

☆ How to protect your family against Covid-19 illness this Thanksgiving
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Katia Hetter | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

FG Trade/E+/Getty ImagesWhat are steps people can take to protect themselves and their loved ones against Covid-19 during Thanksgiving dinners and other gatherings over the coming holidays? The most important thing we can all do to reduce the likelihood of becoming severely ill is be up-to-date with the Covid-19 vaccine. Of course, masking is a precaution that will reduce risk, though it’s harder to do when attending events with food and drink. The other mitigation measures that help reduce the risk of Covid-19, including ventilation and masking, will also help to reduce other virus transmission. There are steps we can take to reduce risk and allow for happy, in-person reunions over Thanksgiving and other upcoming holidays.

☆ Covid, flu, RSV: Here are the best masks and masking methods for protection against the 'tripledemic'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

As we get deeper into fall season, experts are warning of a potential 'tripledemic' – the circulation of Covid-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), all at the same time. "The KN95 and N95 [masks] have a particulate filtration efficiency of 95% or above," Taubner explains. "Cloth masks [without filters], which don't have a minimum threshold, probably test in the neighborhood of 20% or 30%." But it's important to keep in mind that, depending on where you purchase your KN95 and N95 masks, you could be receiving less protection than you think, he says. When purchasing masks, he suggests: Buying from a reputable companySeeking out companies that are transparent about their supply chain, including listing their manufacturerReferring to the CDC's guidance for masksMasking methods for the most protection

☆ Palm oil is in almost everything, and it's devastating rainforests. This Bill Gates-backed company used microbes to create an alternative
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Palm oil grows best in the regions right around the equator, so palm oil producers chop down rainforest and clear that felled vegetation by burning it, making it a prime target of conservation organizations like the Rainforest Rescue and the World Wildlife Fund. Palm oil trees grow at the Cikasungka palm oil plantation, operated by PT Perkebunan Nusantara VIII, in Bogor Regency in West Java, Indonesia, on Monday, June 20, 2022. To make its palm oil alternative, C16 Biosciences uses a wild yeast microbe that makes a functional equivalent to palm oil with a kind of fermentation process. Photo courtesy: Cat Clifford, CNBCChemically, the palm oil that C16 Biosciences makes is not identical to the palm oil that is grown in industrial agriculture farms. However, "it contains the same fatty acids, which are the molecular fingerprints of fats and oils, that palm oil does," Heller told CNBC.

☆ Independent union wins bargaining rights at 3M in central Mexico
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Daina Beth Solomon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Independent Mexican union La Liga has won the right to represent workers at a 3M Co (MMM.N) plant, authorities said on Monday, marking a second victory for the fledgling group at a pivotal moment for workers to take on entrenched interests. Workers at 3M's plant in the central city of San Luis Potosi, which makes everything from Post-It notes to N95 masks, voted in January to reject the collective contract negotiated by their long-established union, the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), opening the door to new representation. The union now has six months to negotiate a new contract, and aims to ensure salaries that keep up with Mexico's climbing inflation, Saucedo said. It has previously said it aims to offer competitive salaries and ensure job stability and will negotiate with the union chosen by workers. Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fearing COVID, workers flee from Foxconn's vast Chinese iPhone plant
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Ryan Woo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

He walked through the night, keeping to a northerly route, towards his hometown of Hebi, every step taking him farther away from iPhone maker Foxconn's (2317.TW) Zhengzhou plant, the Taiwan-based group's largest in mainland China. "There were so many people on the road," Yuan told Reuters on Monday, declining to give his full name because of the matter's sensitivity. "People would be called away in the middle of work, and if they don't show up the next day, that would mean they had been taken away," Yuan said. On Sunday afternoon, the company told Reuters in an emailed statement that workers were allowed to leave if they chose to. "I'll never go back to Foxconn," said Yuan, who has since been transported to Hebi and put under quarantine.

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