London is on track for a less intense allergy season than last year, an airborne pollen tracking company says, but ditching masks and other post-pandemic behavioral changes might make it feel worse than it is.
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London is on track for a less intense allergy season than last year, an airborne pollen tracking company says, but ditching masks and other post-pandemic behavioral changes might make it feel worse than it is.
Aerobiology Research Laboratories, an Ottawa-based company that tracks and forecasts seasonal allergens in 30 cities across Canada, uses collection equipment to capture and calculate the concentration of pollen grains per cubic meter of air.
So far this season, the company’s data shows London is high in oak and pine pollen but short on cedar and birch pollen. Oak pollen is showing up in similar levels to 2021, but is beginning later than last year.
“We’re not seeing as bad of a season as we saw in 2021,” said Daniel Coates, marketing director at Aerobiology Research Laboratories. “Last year, we had a few days that were off the charts, at over 3,500 pollen grains per cubic meter. Anything over 200 grains per cubic meter is considered high. This year is on track to be similar to last year, but without those spikes.”
St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s allergy program administers allergy shots to thousands of people each year. Seasonal allergy complaints are as perennial as spring flowers.
“Every year, we hear the story that it feels like the worst year ever,” said Samira Jeimy, an immunologist at St. Joseph’s and program director of immunology at Western University’s Schulich school of medicine and dentistry.
“But this year a few things have happened. People may be outside more and without masks. Believe it or not, the masks were really helping us with patients who have asthma and allergies to pollen. . . . Once the masks are off, the allergies come back with what feels like a revenge.”
This spring was the first without sweeping COVID-19 mask mandates since the fall of 2020. The province made masks optional in many indoor public spaces in late March, and scrapped the final mandates for hospitals and public transit just last week.
Pollen season also is getting longer, on average, Jeimy said, and other airborne pollutants may be making seasonal allergies worse.
“There have been studies that show that pollen grains, when coupled with say, diesel particles, can actually stimulate the immune system in a way that drives the formation of more allergies,” she said Tuesday.
London has had at least 15 days so far this spring where the overall pollen metrics have been very high, in the 400 to 800 pollen grains per cubic meter zone, Coates said.
London is in the tail end of the tree pollen phase of allergy season, Coates said, but grass and weed pollen will be ramping up soon. Ragweed, an annual scourge for allergy sufferers, will start showing up on Aerobiology’s metrics in about a month, Coates said.
The company has been tracking airborne pollen in London daily during the mid-March to mid-October allergy season since 1997, Coates said.
Aerobiology Research Laboratories uses a machine to measure airborne pollen in the city. The equipment, which remains in one location, spins collection rods through the air to capture what’s floating around.
The samples are analyzed in a lab to gauge the concentration of airborne pollen, Coates said.
The data Aerobiology Research Laboratories collects is used in the Weather Network’s allergy report and its allergy sufferers mobile app.
The bad news for seasonal allergy sufferers is pollen is getting worse in Canada, Coates said.
“Pollen is a lot like a business cycle, you have ups and downs year over year,” he said.
“But our trend line indicates we’re seeing more pollen year over year than we have 20 years ago.”