‘It’s too much’: New Yorkers don masks and stay inside during smog crisis

New York City streets emptier than usual as smoke from Canada’s wildfires engulfs more than a dozen US states

Irania Sanchez, 53, was gasping for breath during her walk in the New York City borough of Queens on Wednesday morning. The air was thick and smelled of the smoke that had descended over the metropolis and a swath of the US.

She was on her way to visit a friend who recently had surgery but then wanted to go on a walk with Sanchez.