Michigan doctor warns of lengthy exposure to unhealthy smoky air

Air quality in many Michigan communities has reached unhealthy levels this week due to Canadian wildfire smoke .

Much of the southern half of the Lower Peninsula on Thursday, June 5, was in the red, meaning Air Quality Index (AQI) levels deemed unhealthy for the general public. That area stretched from Muskegon and Kalamazoo east to Sandusky and Port Huron.

The AQI assigns real-time local ratings between 0 and 500. Values of 101 to 150 are unhealthy for sensitive groups with underlying conditions, while values 151 to 200 are unhealthy for the general population.

When AQI levels are above 150, everyone is advised to limit time outdoors and to keep doors and windows closed, explained Dr. Devang Doshi, a pulmonologist and allergist for Corewell Health in Royal Oak.

“I know it’s hard;