Air Quality Concerns for Washington County, Late June 2023

WASHINGTON COUNTY, MD – The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) and Department of the Environment have recently issued air quality alerts for concerns of unhealthy air in our area. The air quality level has been rated between an Orange level – unhealthy for sensitive groups – and a Red level – Unhealthy for this final week of June 2023.

The Washington County Health Department has a supply of KN95 masks that help reduce particles you breath in. Please consider picking up free masks, available in limited supply, from the main lobby of either health department building – 1302 Pennsylvania Ave. or 925 N. Burhans Blvd., both in Hagerstown. These free masks are available for our county’s population as long as we continue to receive inventory from our state and national health care partners.

With the current air quality alerts, MDH is recommending that people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should take any of these steps to reduce your exposure:

• Avoid strenuous outdoor activities.
• Keep outdoor activities short.
• Consider moving physical activities indoors or rescheduling them.

Everyone else should consider taking any of these steps to reduce your exposure:

• Choose less strenuous activities (like walking instead of running) so you don’t breathe as hard.
• Shorten the amount of time you are active outdoors.
• Be active outdoors when air quality is better.

Find regular updates online at airnow.gov and mde.maryland.gov/airquality.