Hazy Days - an issue of air quality

[charmedbyekkie]

Our neighbouring countries routinely burn their forests (long story), causing a haze problem in our country. In 2015 and 2016, the Air Quality Index was in the Hazardous range. The government was even handing out free N95 masks, schools were cancelled, several people were hospitalised. At that time, several domesticated birds also died from the haze.

(Note that the AQI goes from 0-50 Good > 51-100 Moderate > 101-150 Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups > 151-200 Unhealthy > 201-300 Very Unhealthy > 300+ Hazardous. For US context, NYC only gets a couple of days of Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. Singapore hits above and beyond that.)

Well, the haze is back. For the past couple of days, it's been in the Unhealthy range. N95 masks are sold out all around me. But luckily, I noticed the haze coming in advance and bought an air purifier before the haze got bad and before the air purifiers sold out.

So Cairo is confined indoors (no more walks every other day, and no more weekend flights). Our breeder friend recommended that we avoid exercising him even at home to avoid causing him to breathe heavy - she's not letting any of her birds fly in the house at all. Unfortunately this little green guy won't have none of that, so he's limited to flying only in the living room, where his cage and the air purifier is. Our house is completely sealed up. We've been using an alternative entrance into the house to put another room between the living room and the outside.

I'm completely nervous about this situation. Cairo wasn't hatched when the last bad haze season happened, so he's never been through this before. The air purifier I bought has a HEPA filter and can be controlled remotely through an app. I've been religiously opening the app while at work and switching the modes around whenever the air quality hints at getting bad indoors. Unfortunately the air purifier only measures PM2.5, not the overall AQI or PSI.


Just hoping that this will pass quickly and not get to the Hazardous levels again. And that Cairo survives this haze season

 

[noodles123]

We had that issue here for a bit- once food burned, so I opened the windows (only to discover that there was new tar/oil on the roads!!!!). Ugh....respiratory sensitivities and birds are the worst.

I feel your pain. The air quality here has been really bad too, although I am guessing yours is worse (due to location).

 

[WakaWaka]

It seems as if you've taken steps in the right direction.
Number one is being aware of the dangers to Cairo and yourself.
You have an air purifier, eliminated outside exposure, minimized indoor exercise that will cause heavier breathing, and are religiously monitoring your indoor air quality.

The overall AQI rating appears to reflect many different particulate and non-particulate levels of contamination. While your HEPA filter may only remove particulate matter, some filters have the additional activated charcoal filters that may also help with non-particulate contaminants. Of course the HEPA and charcoal filters only last so long.

It may be worthwhile to order more filters to have them on hand if the event the pollution continues longer than expected.

 

[Kiwibird]

Have always lived in forest fire prone areas and in fact had to evacuate once because houses across the street were burning down. My parents birds as well as Kiwi for as long as we’ve had him have all been around forest fire smoke pretty much on an near annual basis forever. Healthy parrots typically deal just fine with forest fire smoke temporarily if they are kept indoors and you don’t keep your windows open. In nature, parrots would occasionally be exposed to smoke from natural fires and they’ve survived. You may notice Cairo acts a little subdued, or he may be as active as normal. Either way, I wouldn’t worry. His body will tell him if he needs to slow down due to the conditions.