Smoke-Related Health Cost of Bushfires

Remember earlier this year when people were wearing face masks for a different reason? The 2019/2020 bushfires left Sydney in a haze of smoke. Many people struggled to do day-to-day activities with the air quality index continuously reaching worrying levels. The air quality peaked at 25 times the hazardous level in Canberra on January 1st. 

A study by the University of Tasmania’s Menzies Institute for medical research estimates the smoke-related health costs of the 2019-20 bushfires to be 1.95 billion dollars.

We were joined by lead author of the research, Fay Johnston, Associate Professor at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research.