Four States Told To Avoid Exercise This Weekend—'Keep Windows Closed'
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Millions of Americans across four states have been urged to stay indoors and avoid strenuous activity this weekend as air quality plummets to dangerous levels and smoke drifts south from massive Canadian wildfires.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued air quality warnings in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado and New Jersey, with Minnesotans specifically warned to keep their windows closed through Monday morning.
Why It Matters
Poor air quality puts vulnerable people, including children, older adults, and anyone with heart or lung conditions, at greater risk of serious health problems.
An air quality alert sign is seen as smoke from wildfires burning in Canada reaches Minneapolis on June 3, 2025.
An air quality alert sign is seen as smoke from wildfires burning in Canada reaches Minneapolis on June 3, 2025.
Mark Vancleave/AP
What To Know
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has extended its Air Quality Alert through 9 a.m. Monday. The Air Quality Index (AQI) could reach the "Very Unhealthy" or "Purple" category in some regions—meaning even healthy people face a higher risk of harmful effects. A thick blanket of smoke has already moved into parts of the state behind a cold front, with a second, heavier wave expected to spread statewide by Saturday afternoon. Officials recommend everyone, especially sensitive groups, stay indoors, avoid outdoor exercise, and keep windows shut.
"Sensitive groups, such as people with lung disease (including asthma), heart disease, and children and older adults, should avoid all physical activities outdoors. The general public should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion," the NWS said.
"Reduce or eliminate activities that contribute to air pollution, such as outdoor burning, and use of residential wood burning devices. Reduce vehicle trips and vehicle idling as much as possible.
"Keep windows closed overnight to prevent smoke from getting indoors."
In Wisconsin, the Department of Natural Resources has issued an Air Quality Advisory covering nearly every county. Fine particle pollution, or PM2.5, is expected to reach levels from "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" to outright "Unhealthy" between early Saturday and noon Monday. Northern areas could briefly hit "Very Unhealthy" levels. Officials urge sensitive groups to move all activities indoors and for everyone else to limit outdoor exertion. Conditions expected to gradually improve on Sunday but remain poor statewide into Monday morning.
In Colorado, the Department of Public Health and Environment has issued an Air Quality Health Advisory for wildfire smoke covering much of southern and western parts of the state, including Rio Grande, Conejos, Mineral, Saguache, Gunnison, La Plata, and San Juan counties. Multiple wildfires are producing moderate to heavy smoke through early Saturday morning. If visibility drops below five miles, residents are urged to limit or avoid outdoor activity entirely. Meanwhile, an Ozone Action Day Alert is in effect for the Front Range Urban Corridor, including Denver and surrounding counties, where hot, stagnant weather is expected to push ozone pollution to levels unhealthy for sensitive groups.
New Jersey has declared a Code Orange Air Quality Alert for parts of the state, including Sussex, Warren, Morris, Hunterdon, Somerset, Passaic, Hudson, Bergen, Essex, and Union counties. Ground-level ozone levels could reach concentrations considered unsafe for children, seniors, and people with asthma or heart disease. Residents in these areas are advised to limit outdoor activities between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. Saturday and reduce driving and other activities that worsen local air pollution.
Amid the air quality warnings, a group of six Republican lawmakers wrote to Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador to the United States, demanding to know her government's plans for tackling the wildfires. The lawmakers also accused Canada of lax forest management which they say has contributed to "suffocating" smoke.
"In our neck of the woods, summer months are the best time of the year to spend time outdoors recreating, enjoying time with family, and creating new memories," representatives from Wisconsin and Minnesota wrote in the letter. "But this wildfire smoke makes it difficult to do all those things."
Canada's government said it was reviewing the letter and planned to offer a response.
What People Are Saying
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said on X, formerly Twitter: "An air quality alert has been issued due to wildfire smoke until 9 a.m. on 7/14. Air quality is expected to reach the purple category, very unhealthy for everyone, in northern MN & will be in the red & orange categories in southern MN."
The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment said on X: "Ozone will remain in the Good to Moderate range on Friday, but reach the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups category on Saturday."
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said on X: "An Air Quality Action Day for Ozone has been declared for Saturday, July 12th!
"Sensitive individuals, including the very young, the elderly, and persons with respiratory diseases such as asthma, should avoid strenuous activities during the afternoon and early evening hours. A continued light onshore flow, partly cloudy skies, and warm temperatures are expected. As a result, ozone levels will reach the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (USG) category in northern portions of the state, while southern and coastal areas will remain in the moderate range. Fine particulates are expected to drop to low-moderate levels in northern and central New Jersey, and fall to good levels elsewhere."
What Happens Next
Warnings are in place until up to noon on Monday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Memory loss isn't always worrisome. But here's when it is, what to do.
It's normal to occasionally forget where you left your keys, struggle to recall a new name or wonder if you've already taken your daily medication. 'Everyone has memory slips now and again,' says Bryce Mander, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California, Irvine. But when forgetfulness progresses, becomes frequent or interferes with relationships or daily life, it may be a sign of something more serious. At the same time, not all memory problems point to dementia, and many issues are preventable, treatable and even reversible. Here's how to recognize memory loss, what causes it and how to manage the problems it creates for yourself or someone you love. What is memory loss? Memory loss refers to the inability to remember information or events that should easily be retrievable. Some common symptoms include forgetting recent conversations or events, asking the same questions over and over, difficulty completing familiar tasks, frequently misplacing items, being unable to retrace steps, becoming confused about time or location or having difficulty following a conversation. 'Progressive memory loss extending over time is the key warning sign,' explains Mander. 'If someone starts forgetting entire experiences or things they were once clear about – like the route to a longtime hairdresser – that becomes concerning.' Ditto for if memory loss starts impacting relationships or impeding day-to-day life. When memory loss progresses to states of dementia, "memory failures become so frequent a person eventually loses the ability to recall recent events or plans completely,' says David Diamond, PhD, a psychologist and neuroscience professor at the University of South Florida. Noted: 1 in 3 older Americans take aspirin daily. What does it do? What causes memory loss? Some of the most common causes of short-term or long-term memory loss include: What is sleep apnea? The sleep disorder you might have could be why you're sluggish How is memory loss prevented and treated? Memory loss treatments vary depending on the underlying cause of the problem. "If the memory loss is due to something reversible, such as poor sleep, medication side effects, a vitamin deficiency or a thyroid disorder, the treatment is pretty straightforward," says Budson. Sometimes simple dietary or behavioral changes are all that is needed. 'There's no silver bullet,' Mander explains, 'but good sleep, exercise, maintaining a diet high in vitamin B12 and mental stimulation all support brain health.' Even something as common and feared as Alzheimer's disease "is not an inevitable result of advanced age,' adds Diamond. "Strong physical health is associated with reducing your risk and a very low rate of dementia." And "for the best outcomes," stresses Yassa, "early intervention is key to living longer without cognitive decline."
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
How hospitals could still escape the megabill's Medicaid cuts
And 2028 is not only an election year, but a presidential one. 'Are they really going to want to cut rural hospitals in an election?' asked Chris Mitchell, head of the Iowa Hospital Association. 'We're going to talk to our delegation early and often about the impact of these cuts and how looming cuts down the road impact how hospitals run in the interim.' Heartening for hospital executives is a now-long history of Congress delaying or repealing the painful parts of major legislation. Congress, for example, never allowed a tax on high-end 'Cadillac' insurance plans in 2010's Affordable Care Act to take effect, and rescinded a tax on medical devices. 'We saw it with the Affordable Care Act, and we will certainly see it with this bill,' predicted Ben Klein, a former Democratic Senate aide and founding partner of Red+Blue Strategies, a lobbying firm that counts major hospital groups and systems among its clients. Congress' habit of revisiting painful cuts also guarantees a multiyear windfall for K Street, the Washington corridor where many lobbyists have their shops. Lobbyists with ties to Trump or Republicans in Congress have already seen a surge in revenue this year. Several state-based hospital associations say they will ramp up meetings with lawmakers to stress the need for an off-ramp before the 2028 elections. Even before the megabill's enactment, some Republicans in competitive districts were suggesting Congress may need to tweak a provision restricting states' ability to extract more money from the Treasury if it causes problems for hospitals. 'If it looks like we have issues and we're not comfortable, we can change it,' Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said before the House voted to pass the bill last week. 'Things are subject to change. We're going to have different members of Congress. We're going to have a new president. Things are going to be different.' If the lobbyists are successful in undoing the cuts — which mostly target Medicaid, the state-federal insurance program for low-income people — it'll mean the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will be even more expensive than the Congressional Budget Office expects: $3.4 trillion in deficit spending over a decade. That will have ramifications across the U.S. economy, exposing Americans to higher interest rates and slower economic growth, budget experts warn. 'If they are successful in getting these reductions delayed, modified, scaled back, … it will be a tax on future generations,' said Bill Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center and longtime GOP Senate budget aide. But that's a deal hospital executives — who have predicted the cuts could threaten some facilities' survival — are willing to take. Delays and cuts States use two tools to get higher Medicaid payments from the federal government. The first is a tax on hospitals and other providers. States use the tax revenue to pay their share of Medicaid, which offers insurance to more than 70 million low-income Americans.
Medscape
4 hours ago
- Medscape
Can This Pacemaker Overcome Stubborn Hypertension?
When medications for hypertension fail, or patients cannot adhere to the drugs, physicians may soon find themselves considering a new option for treating hypertension. Atrioventricular interval modulation (AVIM) therapy, a pacing algorithm incorporated into dual-chamber pacemakers, is being tested in patients with uncontrolled hypertension and a need for a pacemaker. Ongoing research could lead to a widened indication in patients who have uncontrolled blood pressure but do not need cardiac pacing, according to the developers of the technology. In April, the US FDA granted a Breakthrough Device Designation to Orchestra BioMed for its AVIM device, called BackBeat. According to the company, more than 7.7 million Americans meet the agency's criteria for this designation, having uncontrolled hypertension, preserved left ventricular systolic function, and a 10-year risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. David Hochman, the CEO of Orchestra BioMed, the company that created AVIM therapy, said a benefit of the technology is that it doesn't require patient adherence to medication. 'With hypertension, patients don't really necessarily feel symptoms, but they need to take medication to reduce the risk of high blood pressure, and they do feel side effects from the medicine.' Orchestra BioMed is collaborating with Medtronic on the BACKBEAT study, a randomized, double-blinded trial aiming to enroll approximately 500 patients. The MODERATO II study, on which the FDA designation was based, found patients who used the device experienced an 11.1 mm Hg ( P < .001) reduction in mean 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure at 6 months, a 8.1 mm Hg greater than those managed only with antihypertensive medications. Older patients with isolated systolic hypertension are particularly challenging to manage. They 'are at higher risk of heart failure because of higher pulse pressure against a stiffer ventricle and stiffer blood vessels,' and they also are more challenging to treat,' Hochman said. 'It's a population with more unmet need and less dedicated research,' he added. Christopher DeSimone, MD, a cardiologist and electrophysiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said a nonpharmacologic option for uncontrolled hypertension is appealing because 'patients may have issues with compliance issues, polypharmacy and drug-drug interactions and face rising drug costs and fixed incomes.' However, he said he would like to see data showing this benefit is sustained in longer follow-up of 6-12 months. The 11 mg Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure seen in the MODERATO II trial is 'significant, and would play a big role for a lot of our patients.' A 2016 meta-analysis found every 10 mm Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure reduced the risk for major cardiovascular disease events by 20% and led to a 13% reduction in all-cause mortality. In those with pacemakers already, DeSimone said, 'the added risk of running the algorithm is essentially nothing. The patient would only stand to benefit and if not — the algorithm can be turned off.' But the implantation of a new pacing device for treating hypertension alone, he added, 'there are risks associated with the procedure, as well as infection risks given these reside in the bloodstream and can serve as a nidus for infection.' James Brian Byrd, MD, assistant professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a cardiologist who researches and treats hypertension, said reducing blood pressure is 'really, really important from the perspective of public health and avoiding strokes and early deaths from heart attacks.' But he questioned whether the financial incentives of implanting a device could outweigh the incentives of adding on inexpensive medications. 'We have really well established and effective treatments that are inexpensive, that aren't used enough, and don't have champions necessarily for them,' Byrd said, referencing later-line hypertension therapies like spironolactone, amiloride, guanfacine, and eplerenone. Spironolactone, for example, is a generic drug that does not receive industry promotion, and while it can be effective in treating isolated systolic hypertension in particular, use of the m edication is associated with hyperkalemia. He worried that physicians could be financially incentivized to implant a device that does not require long-term follow-up 'as opposed to giving people medication where you have to check periodically to see whether their potassium is too high.' DeSimone agreed hypertension therapy falls short in many patients. 'It is quite difficult for the patient's family doctor to add on yet another therapy that takes time and resources to monitor in a situation that is already overwhelmed,' he said. As a result, the overwhelming majority of hypertension patients 'are not optimized, so they're not taking all of the therapies they could take or they've not been prescribed the right doses.' Hochman said that concerns that pacemakers would be overused for blood pressure are premature. Orchestra Med would need to 'produce very compelling data that satisfies regulators and ultimately satisfies the clinical community' before the pacemakers could be used to treat blood pressure alone, he explained. He added that pacemakers have become safer, with the advent of conduction system pacing. Pacemakers are also becoming easier to implant with the move toward leadless devices which are implanted fully in the heart and have a small footprint. DeSimone said the two other approved medical devices to treat blood pressure, baroreflex activation therapy and renal denervation, have had limited effectiveness and uptake. With AVIM technology 'by altering the physiology of the heart and the autonomic nervous system together, this device would fill a need that is currently lacking.' Hochman is the CEO of Orchestra BioMed, the company that created the AVIM pacemaker technology. Byrd has served on advisory boards for companies developing medications for hypertension. DeSimone reported having no relevant financial conflicts of interest.
