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Indoor air quality
Learn how to improve indoor air quality in homes, businesses, schools, and other places where people gather. Healthy indoor spaces are key to reducing respiratory illness like asthma, the spread of airborne viruses and reducing health effects from wildfire smoke.
Short URL: kingcounty.gov/IAQ
Improving indoor air quality
Poor indoor air quality can contribute to a wide variety of health concerns, from congestion and headaches to frequent asthma episodes and respiratory infections. Here are several ways to learn about changes you can make at home to improve indoor air quality:
- Watch our video series, which covers causes, impacts, and strategies to improve indoor air quality in both individual homes and owned residential buildings.
- Consider equipment to help improve indoor air quality.
- You can also navigate through the interactive slideshow below by pressing on the arrow button on the right of the image to learn about improving indoor air quality at home.
Also available in:
- ቤት ውስጥ ጥሩ አየር ይተንፍሱ። (አማርኛ / Amharic)
- 健康呼吸，居家更安逸。(简体中文 / Chinese, Simplified)
- Mieux respirer à la maison (Français / French)
- 집 안의 공기를 개선하세요 (한국어 / Korean)
- ышите лучше дома! (Русский / Russian)
- Si fiican guriga ugu neefso (Af Soomaali / Somali)
- Respire mejor en casa (Español / Spanish)
- Huminga nang mas mabuti sa tahanan (Wikang Tagalog/Filipino / Tagalog/Filipino)
- Дихайте вільніше вдома (Українська / Ukrainian)
- Hít thở tốt hơn ở nhà (Tiếng Việt / Vietnamese )
Related resource:
- Strategies to improve indoor air quality
There are many potential causes of poor indoor air quality. By addressing these causes, and using filtration and ventilation, we can all improve the quality of indoor air.
Improving indoor air quality video series
With funding from the Washington Climate Commitment Act, we produced a series of videos offering indoor air quality guidance for residents to use at home, for building owners to implement in their facilities, and for community organizations to use for trainings.
Topics include:
- what is air pollution
- how outdoor pollutants can move indoors
- who is affected by air pollution
- actions that can be taken to improve conditions
- for residential building owners: the impacts of poor air quality on tenants and best practices for ventilation
View the first video in the series for residents below, or view all videos.
Buildings and congregate settings
Whether you own a residential building or operate a congregate facility such as a childcare setting, restaurant, or faith-based site, there are ways you can promote clean indoor air – reducing the spread of diseases and supporting healthy communities. Here are some resources to consider:
- Tips for shared or congregate housing, schools and childcare settings, restaurants and faith-based organizations
- Techniques to improve ventilation in buildings, CDC
- Guidance about improving ventilation and air quality, WA State Dept. of Health
- Technologies to improve indoor air quality
Three ways to improve indoor air and reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 (302 KB)
- የቤት ውስጥ አየርን ማሻሻያ እና የ COVID-19 ስርጭት አደጋን መቀነሻ 3 መንገዶች (Amharic, 261 KB)
- 改善室内空气的3种方法 并降低传播 COVID-19 的风险 (Chinese, Simp., 230 KB)
- 三種方法改善室內空氣 並降低COVID-19傳播的風險 (Chinese, Trad., 252 KB)
- 실내 공기 개선 및 COVID-19 확산의 위험을 줄이는 3가지 방안 (Korean, 302 KB)
- 3 способа улучшить качество воздуха в помещении (Russian, 245 KB)
- 3 Dariiqo oo lagu hagaajinayo Hawada Gudaha Dhismayaasha iyo Yaraynta Khatarta Faafitaanka caabuqa COVID-19 (Somali, 224 KB)
- 3 formas de mejorar el aire en interiores y de reducir el riesgo de propagación del COVID-19 (Spanish, 256 KB)
- 3 Mga Paraan Upang Mapabuti ang Panloob na Hangin (Tagalog/Filipino, 219 KB)
- 3 способи поліпшити якість повітря в приміщенні та зменшити ризик поширення COVID-19 (Ukrainian, 249 KB)
- 3 cách để cải thiện không khí trong nhà và giảm nguy cơ lây lan COVID-19 (Vietnamese, 309 KB)
Wildfire smoke and air quality
Wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe across the western United States and Canada. While wildfires may occur in remote locations, the smoke plumes they generate can be carried by atmospheric currents and impact air quality in communities across King County. These plumes can result in poor air quality conditions that last anywhere from a few days to weeks on end, placing large populations at risk to the health effects of wildfire smoke exposure.
Our Wildfire Smoke Response Plan (603 KB) describes actions the department may take before and during a wildfire smoke event to protect community health and limit health disparities. Visit our Public Health wildfire smoke response webpage for:
- risk factors facing our community
- Public Health response actions
- recommendations for preparedness and response professionals to support regional coordination across King County during a wildfire smoke event
We also developed a Wildfire smoke health impacts mitigation strategy (3.7 MB), focused on long-term risk reduction and 14 actions to prepare for the increasing impact of wildfire smoke on air quality. These actions will help equitably reduce exposure to wildfire smoke in our communities. The strategy document also provides a summary of the current research on health impacts of wildfire smoke exposure.