(WXYZ) — The air was a little less smokey Thursday morning but the air quality is still an issue.
Many playgrounds across metro Detroit and right here at the Jewish Community Center were unusually quiet Wednesday because many decided to keep kids inside because of the air quality alert.
For the last five summers, Melissa Mesa and Sam Pellett have worked together at the JCC Day Camp.
"We have about 200 campers each day and we do different activities from instructional swim, to archery, to canoeing, to arts and crafts," Mesa said
Most of their fun time is spent outside, but that fun had to move indoors because of the air quality. Health officials say they issued the air quality alert because of the smoke coming from Canada.
"Normally for us, it's the heat index," Sam Pellett said. "Normally in Michigan, it can change really drastically in the day. Usually, we can still sit in shaded areas or pivot in different ways not have to be completely indoors."
The JCC staff made changes to the schedule as soon as the advisory went out. They add that their top priority is to prevent harmful exposure to staff and campers.
"We were supposed to do outdoor cooking which is obviously not safe today, but we have really fun activities. We got an indoor blow-up gaga pit that we put together," Mesa said. "We have bounce houses that we can also put up inside."
"We have plenty of kids that have medical conditions where they're also in a specialized group," Pellett adds. "We run a full-capacity special needs camp."
The JCC staff says they'll most likely keep campers inside over the next couple of days while the advisory continues. Health officials say if you do go outside for extended periods of time to wear a mask.
