CHI member, Kate O'Dell, and CHI Director, Susan Anenberg, published a recent paper in Environmental Research Health entitled, "Outside in: the relationship between indoor and outdoor particulate air quality during wildfire smoke events in western US cities." The paper finds that remaining indoors during poor air quality days due to wildfire smoke is an effective strategy to limit harmful exposure but only provides a limited protection on days when air quality is extremely poor, suggesting the need for additional action.
In 2021, Kate O'Dell published a paper in GeoHealth entitled, "Estimated Mortality and Morbidity Attributable to Smoke Plumes in the United States: Not Just a Western US Problem." Discovering that while a majority of large-scale wildfires take place in the Western U.S., a majority of death and illness associated with smoke from fires occurs in the Eastern U.S., the publication has garnered extensive media coverage, including quotes from Kate O'Dell in:
- How a dangerous stew of air pollution is choking the United States (Nature)
- Toxic wildfire smoke raises health risks across the country (Washington Post)
- Wildfire smoke contributes to more deaths in the Eastern US than the West, study shows (CNN)
- Smoke from Western fires fuels dangerous air quality (Washington Post)