For the last week, a thick layer of fog has been sitting over the Treasure Valley. Neighbors are experiencing varying effects from the prolonged gray skies, while a local doctor warns about serious health risks in the air.
"Inversions like this are basically like a huge wildfire event directly over your head that lasts for a week straight," Dr. Ethan Sims said.
WATCH: Learn more about the Treasure Valley's current air quality conditions
Sims is a St. Luke's emergency medicine physician. For the last week, he says the fog has trapped pollution over the Treasure Valley, which can hurt the heart, lungs and brain.
"What we see mostly that I can directly attribute to the air inversion are the things you would think of, you know, increased risk of COPD and asthma exacerbations, increased risk of car accidents, people slipping because of the low-level fog and ice, so a lot of accidents and a lot of breathing troubles," Sims said.
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However, he says the broader health impacts are more concerning.
"We know kids' test scores are worse in times of bad air quality. That includes summer smoke events, but also these air stagnation events," Sims said. "People are more likely to have heart attacks or strokes when the air quality is bad."
The effects can impact entire lifespans.
"There are things that affect your entire life span like early delivery, so low birth weight babies are more common when their air quality is bad, and again that doesn't matter if it's in the winter when air stagnation events happen or in the summer when wildfire events occur," Sims said.
Neighbors are experiencing varying effects from the prolonged weather pattern.
"I haven't noticed anything, and even if I'm not on the green belt, I'm out every day for at least an hour with my dog. No effects at all," Leslie Giannakopoulos said.
However, others say the gray skies are taking a toll.
"The gray is very gloomy, takes a toll on you for sure," Brooke Adams said.
"Yes, emotionally it does," Nina Ramirez said.
Sims says kids, seniors, pregnant women, and people with heart or lung issues face the biggest risks. The hospital also sees mental health issues when the sun disappears for days.
"Anytime you have a thick layer of fog holding over your city for a week straight, you don't see any of the sun," Sims said. "We definitely see more anxiety, depression, more suicide attempts and completions of suicide."
Some residents are fighting back by heading above the clouds.
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"We actually went skiing up there, for night skiing on Friday night, and when you get above the clouds, you see the sun... which is nice," Jessica Rice said.
Rice is a Mountain Home neighbor. Her 10-year-old son, Leonard Rice, describes what they saw above the inversion.
"There's like a white layer of thickness and then sun," Leonard Rice said.
"I think the mountains help everybody's mood, and like I said, the sun's up there, and you got to see the sunset, and my kids said, like out of a dream," Jessica Rice said.
Sims warns that Idaho is facing a troubling pattern of air quality issues.
"We're sort of getting into a trouble spot where we're having this two season air quality degradation," Sims said. "We've got this expanding wildfire season in the summer where the air quality is terrible, and then in the winter we're getting these longer air stagnation events," Sims said.
The timing is particularly concerning due to the respiratory illness season.
"These air stagnation events come at a bad time because we're having tons of COVID and flu," Sims said. "And we know from other studies looking at wildfire smoke that when you're exposed to bad air quality, it depletes your lungs' ability to fight infections, so you're more vulnerable to getting COVID or flu or other viral illnesses."
"It's really important that you take care of yourself, and the best way to do that is with avoidance and degraded air quality like this," Sims said.
Doctor Sims says if you can, limit driving, avoid indoor fires, and wear an N-95 mask outdoors to reduce exposure.
