Health Alert: Poor Air Quality for Tompkins and Surrounding Counties

Tompkins County Whole Health (TCWH) is alerting the community that Canadian wildfires are producing smoke that is impacting local air quality. The air quality in Tompkins County is currently considered “Unhealthy” for the general public, as defined by the Air Quality Index (AQI) scale, effective 2:00 PM today, August 4, 2025. The air quality level for outdoor air in Tompkins County has now progressed to scale above 150 on the AQI scale. The higher the AQI value, the greater the health concern. 

The AQI is divided into six categories. Each category corresponds to a different level of health concern. Each category also has a specific color. The color makes it easy for people to quickly determine whether air quality is reaching unhealthy levels in their communities. 

With Air Quality in this red zone, some members of the general public may experience health effects and members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects. Those considered to fall within the “sensitive groups” category includes people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens, minority populations and outdoor workers.  

When pollution levels are elevated to the “Unhealthy” level, the New York State Department of Health recommends that the following strategies to reduce risk of adverse health effects: 

• Sensitive groups: Avoid long or intense outdoor activities. Consider rescheduling or moving activities indoors. 

• Everyone else: Reduce long or intense outdoor activities. Choose less strenuous activities (like walking instead of running) so you don’t breathe as hard. Take more breaks. 

High quality masks, such as N95 and KN95 masks, can be worn outdoors to reduce the inhalation of fine particles from the air. N95s are available to the public, at no cost, at our office at 55 Brown Road, Ithaca NY, for pick up during office hours Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm.  Cloth masks and surgical masks are not effective at reducing inhalation of pollutants. 

Do-It-Yourself indoor air cleaners are an affordable and accessible way to protect yourself from air pollutants. DIY air cleaners are made with a box fan and a high-quality air filter. For visual graphic on how to create an indoor air cleaner, as well as additional tips on how to protect yourself indoors or outdoors during poor air quality events, visit Cornell’s Wildfire Risk Mitigation webpage.