City New York returns to normal this Friday as smoke from wildfires clears earlier than expected. forestry in Canada, which has worsened air quality in recent days and led to more visits to public hospitals for asthma.

The effect of the pollution was most pronounced on Wednesday, when a thick orange haze with a noticeable smell of smoke hung over the Big Apple, and yesterday Thursday the pollution warning continued despite the fact that the sky looked much clearer, as it is today. .

Air quality is expected to improve this weekend, but the city will remain on high alert until midnight.therefore, the Ministry of Health has advised people with respiratory and heart problems to remain vigilant and reduce their time outside or wear a mask.

On Wednesday, according to data released today by the agency, there were 309 emergency hospital visits for asthma cases compared to 162 the previous day.

Although there were many more calls for respiratory illnesses (1123), they were in line with the usual figures: only twelve cases more than the day before.

public education system, the largest in the country, which has canceled active holidays to date and established a remote day for workers and students, announced that from tomorrow “normal work will be resumed in person” in all its facilities.

Already yesterday, some sports and entertainment events were rescheduled from Wednesday to Thursday, such as the baseball game between the Yankees and the White Sox or the famous Broadway play Hamilton.

Some international air pollution indices have in recent days placed New York among the three or two most polluted cities on the planet, along with cities such as Dhaka (Bangladesh), Lahore (Pakistan), Tel Aviv (Israel) or New Delhi (India). ).

In comparison, today the IQAir index, which for several hours ranked New York as the second most polluted city in the world, ranks the Big Apple as 59th with cleaner air than other cities in the country such as Detroit or Los Angeles. . .

(EFE)