Have NY leaders left residents unprepared for the air quality crisis?

“That’s something we’re developing right now,” he told reporters.

Dr. Jay Varma, director of the Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response and who served as a health adviser under Mayor Bill de Blasio, said the health crisis demonstrated the need for the state and city to create early warning systems to warn residents about the monitor wildfire risks in advance, as they do for coastal storms, and consider solutions to improve air quality when it is bad, such as limiting car traffic as other cities are doing, including Beijing and Mexico City.

The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation made the first statement an advisory warning about elevated levels of particulate matter in certain parts of the state on June 1.

On Tuesday afternoon, the governor’s office issued a press release announcing that the wildfires were causing hazy conditions in New York City and elsewhere, urging residents to limit exposure and saying state experts were monitoring the situation. On Wednesday morning, as many New Yorkers woke up to a thick blanket of fog, the governor spoke to reporters in Albany about the situation, saying it was “an emergency crisis” and warning it could take several days.

When asked about the wisdom of declaring a state of emergency, Ms Hochul said it was not necessary.

“A state of emergency is a mechanism you use when you can help it,” she said. “There’s not much we can do about the conditions under which polluted toxic air enters our airspace, so there’s no need to commit resources or put money on the table.”

On Wednesday evening, Ms. Hochul held an impromptu briefing in Albany to provide further updates and announced that the state would make available one million Covid masks from its stockpile. The masks, she said, would be distributed at subway stations, state parks, at state facilities and directly to local governments.

Dr. Varma said he was glad Ms. Hochul was handing out masks, but that some New Yorkers needed them more than others.