Canadian wildfires led to spike in asthma ER visits, especially in the Northeast

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published two studies Thursday about the health impacts of the smoke, which shrouded city skylines with an orange haze in late spring. A medical journal also released a study this week. When air quality worsens, “an asthmatic feels it before anyone else,” said Dr. Adrian Pristas, a pulmonologist based in Hazlet, New Jersey, who remembered a flood of calls from patients in June during the days of the heaviest smoke.