Video, Audio, & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on Statewide Air Quality

"As you can tell, we are not at Doubleday Field at this moment, and I'm going to take a moment to address exactly why that is.

And we are experiencing very compromised air quality at this moment. Literally since I arrived here, the air quality in Cooperstown went from 71 to 136, and anything above 50 is considered 'Unhealthy.' But when you get into the range of 100 to 150, you're really in a category where people who have any kind of health conditions, whether they have asthma, or chronic respiratory or heart issues, those individuals really need to stay indoors because it is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

And if it gets above 150, then it's unhealthy for everyone. So we have been tracking this very closely, especially since this is coming in from the West. We're seeing high numbers in places like Chicago and Detroit and Pittsburgh, and it's coming our way - already hit Syracuse with high numbers, over 140. And it's really hard to predict exactly where this air mass is going to go, but all we know is it is not good for New York at this time. And in fact, we just received word that tomorrow we're going to be issuing air quality advisories in Western New York, Eastern Lake Ontario, Central New York, Adirondacks, Upper Hudson Valley. And that'll be unhealthy, literally the 151 to 200 range.

So if you have friends in those areas, or are planning on traveling to those areas, be aware of this. And what we're doing at the state level is we're handing out hundreds of thousands of N95 masks. If you still have those in your drawer and thought you'd never have to see them again, you might just want to hang on to them because it really - I remember last time when the numbers were extraordinarily high, over 400, it was hard to breathe even indoors.

So this is temporary. We're going to get through it as we always do, but I want to let people know that we're getting the alert out to everyone. If it goes above 200, I'm telling you right now, your cell phone is going to go off. I directed this to give people that jolt to realize you should not be outdoors, especially with senior citizens and children, and again, those who have health conditions already. That's what we're looking at, and that's why we're not at the field that we waited so long for."

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