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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; This year&rsquo;s &ldquo;State of the Air&rdquo; report from the American Lung Association finds that the three-county Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro area continued its long-term trend of general improvement for year-round particle pollution by posting a new best-ever average.
				And for the sixth consecutive year the region had zero days when the particle pollution levels reached unhealthy ranges, placing it among the nation&rsquo;s cleanest cities.
				For ozone smog, Lackawanna County also got a clean report, as Luzerne County&rsquo;s days with high levels became a rarer threat.
				The worst grade in the metro area was Luzerne County&rsquo;s &ldquo;B&rdquo; grade for ozone smog, even as it reached its best ever result.
				&ldquo;Though we applaud this progress, positive results in the Wyoming Valley are not guaranteed in future years,&rdquo; said American Lung Association Director of Environmental Health Kevin Stewart. &ldquo;More must be done to assure they continue to protect the health of people at risk. One day with unhealthy air is one day too many when air pollution levels are high enough to harm health. Even that one day can trigger asthma attacks, heart attacks and stroke, placing children, older adults, and people living with chronic lung and heart disease at particular risk.&rdquo;
				Stewart said ozone and particle pollution are the nation&rsquo;s most harmful and widespread air pollutants, and both can be deadly. In addition, more exposure to particle pollution is linked to worse health outcomes from COVID-19, including more deaths, he said.
				&ldquo;The American Lung Association&rsquo;s 2021 &lsquo;State of the Air&rsquo; report shows that despite some nationwide progress on cleaning up air pollution, more than 40% of Americans live with unhealthy ozone or particle pollution,&rdquo; Stewart said.
				&#8226; Ozone pollution in the Scranton&mdash;WB metro area: Compared to the 2020 report, the Scranton metro area experienced fewer unhealthy days of high ozone in 2017-2019 than it had in 2016-2018, recording its new best-ever performance.
				Luzerne County reported the metro area&rsquo;s new lowest ever weighted average of 0.3 days (a &ldquo;B&rdquo; grade) in 2017-2019, displacing Lackawanna County and its previous 1.3 days (a &ldquo;C&rdquo; grade, and a level that had been tied for best ever) in last year&rsquo;s report.
				The area&rsquo;s ranking improved to 137th most polluted in the country from 106th worst in last year&rsquo;s report.
				&#8226; Particle pollution in the Scranton&mdash;WB metro area: &ldquo;State of the Air&rdquo; 2021 found that year-round particle pollution continued its long-term trend of general improvement as the Scranton metro area posted a new best-ever average and met the standard for this pollutant.
				Lackawanna County, the only county in the metro area with monitoring data, improved its long-term average level, as it had in last year&rsquo;s report. The area&rsquo;s ranking improved to 122nd most polluted in the country from 94th worst in last year&rsquo;s report.

Scranton-WB area earns another ‘A’ in air quality report