The paper's earlier AQI threshold brief treated air quality as a household planning problem, and CDC's wildfire-smoke guidance still begins in the same place: check local air quality through AirNow or a phone weather app. [1]

AirNow's AQI basics page describes the index as a 0-to-500 yardstick, with 50 or below meaning good air quality and values over 300 meaning hazardous air, while the page metadata identifies 101 to 150 as the range that becomes unhealthy for sensitive groups. [2]

The exact table extraction remains imperfect, so this should not pretend to be a complete AQI explainer; the service rule is narrower and stronger, which is that once the number crosses 100, children, older adults and people with asthma, heart disease or lung disease should reconsider outdoor plans. [1]

That is the kind of public-health threshold that survives a busy morning better than a color legend, because it turns a haze map into a decision about recess, a run, a work shift or a trip to the playground.

Summer smoke coverage often becomes a satellite image, but the better service is a number a parent, coach or caregiver can use before leaving the house for an ordinary afternoon outside together.

-- NORA WHITFIELD, Chicago