LATHAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) — As the dangerous haze continues for a second day, it has become a challenge for many … but especially those with underlying medical conditions. Governor Kathy Hochul held a press conference Wednesday afternoon- urging everyone to stay inside.

“Outdoors are dangerous in just about every part of our state. Not just in vulnerable communities, but literally everyone,” Governor Hochul said.

Pulmonologist Dr. Andrew Weber has seen an increase in patients with COPD, asthma, and other pulmonary issues in the last two days.

“This haze, fog…is certainly causing hyper-reactivity of the airways,” Dr. Weber said. “And this helps nobody at best and is going to cause hospitalizations at worse.”

Rebekah Hogan has been dealing with long COVID for more than two years and says the past few days have been challenging for herself and her family.

Hogan’s 17-year-old daughter has a connective tissue disorder and needs several surgeries. So while her siblings continued to go to school, she chose to have her daughter stay home.

“She’s sick, and we’re worried about her because she has a lot of health stuff going on,” Hogan said. “She has a PIC line and IV. So we try to keep her from breathing bad air and other things, to begin with.”

Dr. Weber says that even if you don’t have any underlying conditions, you should still take precautions while the air is so unhealthy.

“Such as if you have underlying exercise-induced asthma and are unaware of it, and then you go outside to show that everything is going to be okay… Well, that can induce an asthma attack that can be severe enough that you’re in the hospital,” he said.

For now, the Hogan family plans on only doing one thing…

“Stay in, I guess, until… I don’t know! Will it get better in a day or two? Or is it going to hang [around]? Unfortunately, they don’t seem to know…”