Bangkok blanketed in smog, officials advise wearing face masks for Songkran

[snoop1130]

PHOTO: Flickr/Harshil Shah

 

With Bangkok (bad) and much of northern Thailand (worse) shrouded in a blanket of smog, officials are urging people to keep their face masks on while celebrating Songkran outdoors. According to a Coconuts report, the Public Health Ministry is advocating for face masks to protect people from harmful microparticles – even going so far as to suggest that people should forget outdoor water play and stay indoors.

 

Deputy Minister Satit Pitutecha says that despite the pandemic abating, it’s not yet time to discard face masks, given the dangerous levels of air pollution across much of central and northern Thailand. However, the fact remains that most face masks cannot filter out PM2.5 microparticles, although the N95 surgical masks can reduce exposure.

 

Coconuts reports that yesterday, Bangkok’s air was measured as “unhealthy”, ranking at 138 on the global pollution index. And the Swiss air quality technology company, IQAir, predicts air quality in the capital will worsen over the coming days, peaking on Friday.

 

Full Story: https://phuket-go.com/phuket-news/national-news/bangkok-blanketed-in-smog-officials-advise-wearing-face-masks-for-songkran/

 

-- © Copyright Phuket GO 2023-04-12

 

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[statman78]

Here in the north we’ve been living in worse smog for weeks!

[brewsterbudgen]

Enough already of 'bad air' topics.  Thailand has bad air.  The north has very bad air.  Carry on.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

When I got home in central BKK this afternoon, my home air quality monitor indoors was reading about 50 micrograms of PM2.5... which on the AQI scale is an orange 137 reading, unhealthy for sensitive people... The levels have dropped off a bit since then....

 

I was wearing an N95 mask outdoors anyways, as I would be regardless, smog or no smog.

 

Not so "lucky" up in Chiang Mai....

 

 

https://aqicn.org/city/chiang-mai/

 

Some places purple, some places dark red, which registers on my personal "meter" as "time to get out of town!!!"

 

 

[JensenZ]

32 minutes ago, statman78 said:

Here in the north we’ve been living in worse smog for weeks!

Pattaya was just starting to improve the last 2 weeks, and we had some green on the IQ Air scale... now it's heading back to yellow and possibly red.

[JensenZ]

13 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 I was wearing an N95 mask outdoors anyways, as I would be regardless, smog or no smog.

Are N95 masks waterproof?

[richard_smith237]

12 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

Are N95 masks waterproof?

Planning on self-waterboarding ?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

16 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

Are N95 masks waterproof?

Actually, I think they pretty much are waterproof... But the problem is, once they get wet, they're almost impossible to actually breathe thru...

 

However, I wasn't/won't be doing anything to get wet... so that won't be a problem!  ????

 

[spidermike007]

And the people advise a new administration. One which is capable, and one which cares about the welfare of the people. This one has done less than zero to even attempt to resolve this health crisis. So much could be done. If only they cared one iota and devoted themselves to real work for a change. 

 

 

 

[JensenZ]

9 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Planning on self-waterboarding ?

It was a genuine question about how they would perform if wet - which has since been answered.

 

 

[connda]

Lets compare:

Northern Thailand real-time AQI  April 12th


Bangkok real-time AQI April 12th


Let's invite Prayut and parliament to come enjoy Songkran in Hazardous-Air Chiang Mai. 

[connda]

1 hour ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Enough already of 'bad air' topics.  Thailand has bad air.  The north has very bad air.  Carry on.

We're all having bad hair days up here in Northern Thailand.

[connda]

41 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

And the people advise a new administration. One which is capable, and one which cares about the welfare of the people. This one has done less than zero to even attempt to resolve this health crisis. So much could be done. If only they cared one iota and devoted themselves to real work for a change. 

 

 

 

Happiness Deadly Bad-Air To The People. 

[phetphet]

We also have smog in Koh Samui at the moment. Though I doubt anywhere near as bad as the North.

 

Very hazy at the moment. Someone told me it comes from burning in Indonesia, but don't know how true that is.

[Stocky]

 

8 minutes ago, phetphet said:

Very hazy at the moment. Someone told me it comes from burning in Indonesia, but don't know how true that is.

No it's blowing down from up north, too early for burning in Kalimantan, air in Hat Yai has been poor today too, AQI of 100.

 

 

.

[Lucky Bones]

1 hour ago, JensenZ said:

Pattaya was just starting to improve the last 2 weeks, and we had some green on the IQ Air scale... now it's heading back to yellow and possibly red.

Agreed. Opened my front doors this morning to smoke.

Never mind, all of the Songkran water guns will clear it.

(Meanwhile neighbour is burning tree leafs.)????????

[RichardColeman]

And like a water soaked, dust clogged mask is healthy ? 

[statman78]

13 hours ago, JensenZ said:

Pattaya was just starting to improve the last 2 weeks, and we had some green on the IQ Air scale... now it's heading back to yellow and possibly red.

I would love to to see red or yellow.  This is what we have this morning.  It’s better than it has been the last couple of weeks.  We’ve had days where we approached 600.