Climate Change

Climate change has really done a number on the US this winter: Southern California has been deluged by torrential rains, the East Coast has been hit with summer-like weather, and tornados—usually seen in late spring and early summer—have cropped up in February in the Midwest. And in the Southeast? Winter meant nothing, with Atlanta experiencing an average temperature increase of nine degrees; New Orleans had an eight-degree uptick and Charlotte had almost a ten-degree increase.

Allergy Seasons Starting Sooner

All that wet and warm weather means one thing: allergy seasons will start sooner and will be prolonged, because in some areas, allergy producing blooms emerged in late February. In fact, according to the National Allergy Bureau, tree pollen is already a problem, with reports of high concentrations throughout the South and into the farthest tip of Florida.

With such an early start to the season, people are already experiencing allergy symptoms. According to Thomas Johnson, MD, of Allergy and Asthma Care of Florida, in Ocala, FL, sufferers should get tested to determine exactly what pollens they are allergic to, before getting medication or trying over-the-counter remedies.

Additionally, people can track pollen counts at the National Allergy Bureau website (www.aaaai.org/nab) to minimize exposure and start treatment before the allergy season hits hardest.

What to do at Home?

At home, allergy sufferers should consider:

• Doing outdoor activities after it rains, or in the evening, when pollen counts are generally lower
• Avoiding hanging clothes outside to air dry
• Showering after outdoor activities to remove any clinging pollen.
• Frequently washing eyes to remove contact with airborne allergens.

What to do at Work?

At work, employees who are allergy sufferers should ensure that doors and windows are kept closed, and should talk with facility managers about ways to remove allergens from the indoor air.

Facility managers themselves should understand that allergens are brought in from outdoors in a number of ways: from fresh air being pumped into facilities; on the clothing of people coming in from outdoors; and by opened windows.

AeraMax Professional Fights Allergy Season

Key to helping alleviate sufferers’ symptoms is ridding the air of allergen spores to begin with, by using AeraMax® Professional commercial-grade air purification. Each AeraMax Professional unit removes up to 99.97 percent of airborne contaminants, like germs and allergens, from indoor air, greatly reducing the triggers for seasonal allergies. Indeed, helping allergy sufferers requires facility managers to “clean for health,” using air purification as a foundation for fighting allergy season.