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I'm studying abroad in Beijing right now, and my throat began to hurt even at lower levels of PM2.5 simply because I wasn't wearing a mask. I'm very surprised at the number of people who don't wear a mask; they either don't value their health or don't know how bad the air is because they've been accustomed to it.

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Out of curiosity - what are typical levels of PM2.5 over there?

130 - 170 AQI is kind of typical. With <50 levels sprinkled throughout the year.

A couple dozen days a year it gets really bad, worse than this current streak.

I didn't even look at the levels when I came in September because everything looked fine, but lately it's varied a lot, between 100-350 the past few weeks.

How much does your mask help?

The package says it blocks >=90%, which is still horrible for my health, but thankfully I'm leaving in less than 2 months. It certainly feels better though.

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