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Comment by nsm | Hacker News Reader

I think this is hyperbole for the majority of people who do not have existing respiratory or other health conditions.

Air quality in SF proper was only bad (by which I mean Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups or above) for roughly a month this year. That certainly doesn't warrant having HEPA filters and P100 masks now in October/November (again, for most people).

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In the valley it has been nearly continuously elevated AQI since the lightning strikes in late August. There were a few weeks without. But these are particles --- not gas, so your lungs don't expel it once the particles impact and embed in your tissues. The body doesn't really have a way to clean that out that I'm aware of (I'd like to learn that I'm wrong). As an endurance athlete, I move a lot of air, and I want my lungs to be in good shape.

This is wishful thinking. Staying for years around an area that gets "only a month" of excessive PM2.5 particles and smoke is unwise and you will soon become someone with an existing respiratory condition.

I'm leaving the Bay because I value my health way more than the "lifestyle" offered by living in the Bay. There are many other places in the US (And ESPECIALLY outside the US) that offer a fantastic quality of life.

> Staying for years around an area that gets "only a month" of excessive PM2.5 particles and smoke is unwise and you will soon become someone with an existing respiratory condition.

I live in a city which has a serious smog problem in the winter and colder autumn and spring months. Yet most people don't have respiratory conditions.

I never implied that one shouldn't take the necessary precautions that you mentioned (respirators, filters) _during_ that month and stay indoors. I am merely stating that "Now we have COVID which means you want to be outside, but fire smoke that you shouldn't breath, so you want to be inside." is a false dichotomy 11 months of the year in the Bay Area, which is not the case for a lot of other places.

Coming from a country where the air quality is bad 365 days a year, I appreciate what is possible here, and cannot empathize with this tendency to exaggerate the situation.

“Only bad for a month this year“, but these big California fires now happen every year.

Sure! Yet, (as I mentioned in a sibling comment) living in a beautiful place with really clean air where one can be outside 11 months of the year is way better than most of the world, so I find this tendency to go "OMG everything is now broken" to be an exaggeration that detracts from the continued value the Bay Area offers.

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