(Salt Lake City, UT) – Some students in the Alpine School District have taken recess break inside because repeated inversions have made Wasatch Front air quality unhealthful. Inversions can be especially hard on children and anyone with certain chronic health conditions.
“Bad air
can trigger respiratory problems like coughing and wheezing for those with
asthma,” said Kellie Baxter of the Utah Asthma Program. “Children are
especially affected by poor air quality and it’s important they stay indoors
when pollution levels are high.”
The Utah
Departments of Health (UDOH) and Environmental Quality (DEQ) created the Recess
Guidance for Schools in 2004 to help administrators know when to move recess
indoors on poor air quality days.
In 2011,
UDOH invited all principals to join a Recess Guidance alert list if they wanted
to be advised of bad air days. Emails are
sent when PM2.5 reaches unhealthful levels.
The
alerts contain information for Cache, Box Elder, Duchesne, Uintah, Weber,
Davis, Tooele, Salt Lake, and Utah counties.
They are followed by specific guidance on which students should be kept
indoors in each area. The majority of schools in Alpine School District have
signed up.
“Air
quality was a problem throughout the month of January,” said Gary Gibb, principal at Legacy
Elementary in Alpine School
District. “Getting alerts on current air quality levels allowed me to quickly
make decisions about which students should remain indoors for recess.”
Three
video tutorials were developed by UDOH and DEQ to help parents and schools
learn more about air quality and the Recess Guidance:
1) Utah’s Air Quality and Health –
Explains how air quality affects health and how to determine your sensitivity
to air pollution.
2) How to Use the Division of Air
Quality Website – Explains how to find current pollution levels and other air
quality information at www.airquality.utah.gov
3) Recess Guidance – Explains how to
use the Recess Guidance to determine when to avoid outdoor physical activity
based on PM2.5 levels.
Baxter
says parents also play an important role in the use of the Recess Guidance.
“UDOH and DEQ developed tutorials to help both parents and school leaders
understand the effects of bad air on young lungs and how to help children avoid harmful exposure to PM2.5.”
To see
current PM2.5 levels, visit www.airquality.utah.gov and click on ‘Current Conditions.’
Copies of the Recess
Guidance, PM2.5 fact sheets, and video tutorials are available at www.health.utah.gov/asthma or by
calling the UDOH Health Resource Line at 1-888-222-2542.
Media Contacts:
Kellie Baxter
UDOH Asthma Program
(o) 801-538-6441 (m) 801-376-6032
Rhonda Bromley
801-610-8409
Alpine School District
