DENVER — Another day of air quality alerts across Colorado may throw a wrench in any outdoor plans.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) issued an Action Day Alert for the Front Range urban corridor — from Douglas County to Larimer and Weld counties, including the Denver-Boulder area, Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley.
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The alert warns of multiple pollutants, staying in effect until at least 4 p.m. Thursday, with the highest concentrations of ozone in the southern and western portions of the Denver metro area.
Experts are advising Coloradans — especially those with lung diseases — to cut down on prolonged outdoor activity.
The combination of wildfire smoke from the west and high heat raising ozone levels can irritate airways, affect breathing and cause flare-ups for people living with asthma or COPD, even if they haven’t felt those symptoms in a while.
Pulmonary critical care doctor Anuj Mehta said that not everyone living with these conditions are being treated.
“People don't know they have asthma until they start having symptoms,” Mehta said. "It's not something that we check every single patient for all the time. Some people might have what's called subclinical asthma, meaning it doesn't really cause a problem most of the time, but on really bad air quality days or with really strenuous exercise, you can start to notice some symptoms.”
The National Institutes of Health estimates that 20-70% of people living with asthma are undiagnosed or untreated.
Bad air quality mixed with physical exertion could cause those flare-ups. Mehta is advising people to keep an eye out for any prolonged chest tightness or trouble breathing that doesn’t subside after exercise ends.
He also advises those looking to stay active, try getting outside in the early morning or evenings when ozone levels are lower. If that’s not possible, he suggested move workouts to the great indoors.
That’s when gyms are typically the most empty as well, though some Denver-area gyms have noticed a small uptick in their clientele.
While not everyone has seen the spike, one gym manager told Denver7 that their numbers in July are 109% higher than what they saw last year. That stood out to him since June and July tend to be slower months for the gym as many Coloradans turn to the outdoors for activity in the summer.
Wesley Robison owns Mission Fitness Club in Five Points. While he said he normally sees a pretty strong core group of members, he has noticed a couple more first-timers in his gym. He’s also seen some members changing up the training habits on hazier days.
“We had a couple of people walking around the streets with masks on and being mindful of doing hard breathing outdoors and then coming in and finding other ways, whether they're going on the rowers, hitting the bikes, or doing some of the strength training,” Robison said.
Still, he said the most crowded gym times are the early mornings before standard work hours and the evenings after getting off the job.
