(Radio Iowa) – While there’s no statewide air quality alert for Iowa today (Friday), one expert says more of those health advisories are likely in the weeks and months ahead, and they could be the “new normal” for years to come. Professor Patrick O’Shaughnessy, in the University of Iowa’s Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, says the smoke from Canadian wildfires was truly making the air over Iowa unhealthy with particulate matter, or P-M.

“It was high. I mean, the EPA wants the PM 2.5 and it’s 2.5 diameter particles, which are super-tiny little things, below 35 micrograms of those little particles per cubic meter of air,” O’Shaughnessy says, “and it was up over twice that over the past couple days.” People who are most at risk include those with asthma, C-O-P-D, and other heart or lung issues. During an alert, O’Shaughnessy says those folks need to keep their windows closed and use the furnace fan to recirculate the air. There are air purification devices — or ionizers — that may help to cleanse the air of particles, but he says your home or workplace’s H-VAC system may be the best defense.

“There’s different levels of filtration you can buy,” O’Shaughnessy says. “They’re more expensive for the higher filtration types, but they’re now available and people with compromised lungs and heart conditions should certainly try to do their best to purchase those better units because they do work.” The air quality advisory this week also said for otherwise healthy people to avoid going outside if possible, and to take it easy if they have to be outdoors, especially if they’re doing anything strenuous. What can they do to protect themselves? O’Shaughnessy says the choices are limited.

“Put on an N-95 certified mask and that will do it, but we all know maybe from our COVID experiences that it’s no fun trying to breathe through one of those things,” O’Shaughnessy says. “So then you add kind of an extra metabolic load on yourself trying to pull air through a mask.” The Air Quality Index for Des Moines reached 104 on Wednesday, which is considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups.” The “moderate” range is from 51 to 100, while over 151 is deemed “unhealthy” for everyone.