DAYTON — Children typically spend hours a day outside in the summer, but doctors say Friday isn’t the day to take advantage of the heat.
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News Center 7’s Kylie Bridgeman spoke with doctors about how people can keep their kids safe amid air quality concerns.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has issued a Statewide Air Quality Advisory, with conditions expected to range from the “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” to the “Unhealthy” category.
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Our crews drove by parks, pools, and splash pads on Friday, but they were all empty.
The parking lot at Scene 75 was a different story.
People at the entertainment center said they were planning to go to King’s Island and parks, but had their plans disrupted.
Christian Durant thought he’d spend the day poolside.
“I’m actually here to see my family. The plan was originally to be outside, like go to the pool or something,” he said.
One look at the sky quickly changed his itinerary.
“Yeah, I noticed it was really foggy, especially over that way, like going towards the east,” Durant said.
The kids in his family weren’t too happy.
“We decided to go here, obviously, because of the air quality being really bad,” Durant said.
Roberto Colon is the chief medical officer for Premier Health.
He said children are at a higher risk due to the air quality.
“When we look at the size of the kids, there’s not as much space for the lungs to be able to expand and be able to compensate,” Colon said.
Colon added that their lower lung capacity has an impact.
“So there’s a lot of different pollutants that I think we get exposed to that affect kids. Much more than normal adults, because of their developing bodies,” Colon said.
He recommends taking the day and possibly the weekend to switch things up and stay inside.
“If you can hold off another day or two, there’s going to be cleaner days out there to be able to enjoy the last days of summer,” Colon said.
Colon said parents who see their children coughing or suffering from shortness of breath should take them inside.
For most people, getting into a filtered environment will quickly improve their symptoms.
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