Hondurans Wear Masks Again Amid Severe Air Pollution

Hondurans have voluntarily returned to wearing masks and working remotely due to severe air pollution caused by forest fires and other environmental factors, local authorities reported.

The Ministry of Health recommends "If you go out, wear a mask" and "Your health comes first" on social media, while the risk management agency Copeco declared a "red alert" in six of Honduras' 18 departments this week due to contamination.

A dense layer of smoke covers the capital, barely allowing buildings to be seen, while hospitals report an increase in patients with respiratory illnesses. Copeco's atmospheric director Francisco Argeñal explained they have "a smoke layer causing low visibility, quite environmental pollution in central Honduras and parts of the east, so we have a red alert declaration."

The red alert departments are Francisco Morazán, Comayagua, Cortés, Atlántida, Colón, and Olancho. Authorities reinstated remote work policies this week.

This pollution will continue until we get rains," expected in the coming days. Since November, over 220 forest fires have destroyed over 200,000 hectares, plus agricultural burning.

The alert coincided with President Xiomara Castro declaring an Environmental Emergency" in the Mosquitia rainforests, where the National Defense Council ordered deploying up to 8,000 troops to protect forests and watersheds. Castro cited the crisis affecting the Rio Platano Biosphere, a UNESCO heritage site.

The environment minister noted the 325,000-hectare biosphere and 75 other reserves make up Central America's second largest wildlands, "under imminent threats" from illegal logging, ranching, land-grabbing, overexploitation of timber, organized crime, and drug trafficking "ravaging the forests and stability of the region."