For allergy sufferers, spring may bring spike in pollen count in Northeast

This is a particularly tricky spring for anyone with allergies, whether the irritants are found outdoors or indoors, doctors said.

Moderate to high pollen counts seen recently highlight the benefits of stay-at-home rules for anyone who starts sneezing or whose eyes tear on days when winds scatter the particles far and wide.

Yet, say doctors, the very same people also might be allergic to indoor irritants, from mold to dust mites to pets.

At least stay-home edicts have slashed air pollution, aiding these individuals, experts said.

In the Northeast, tree pollen usually is at its worst in March and April; grass pollens take over from late May to July.

“With global warming,” said Dr. Punita Ponda, allergy and immunology, pediatrics, Northwell Health, by telephone, there can be “multiple days” of high pollen counts.

Online sites, such as pollen.com and on Twitter, @FordhamPollen, issue frequent counts, often broken down by plant.

This spring, area pollen counts have not hit “unusually high numbers,” said Guy Robinson, lecturer, department of natural sciences, Fordham University.

He sees no data showing an end to a somewhat positive trend. “The last five years have had rather lower midseason counts [late April-early May] compared with most years before that,” he said.

Pollen sufferers can hope for rain to cleanse the air, but local counts also hinge on the origin of weather fronts.

“Regional air masses can also hold lots of pollen so where those masses come from and when can influence local pollen abundance,” said Donald J. Leopold, Department of Environmental and Forest Biology professor at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, by email.

“Long Island is dominated by oaks, hickories, and pines, all heavy pollen producers. Areas not forested often have much grasslike vegetation,” said Leopold.

Forecasts for summer weather and pollen counts are too uncertain to be helpful, he said.

The coronavirus pandemic has created another complication. Curbing time outdoors prevents the allergy-prone from gradually acclimating to pollen.

“When you go out in bursts” on sunny days, said Dr. Susan Schuval, a pediatric allergist and immunologist at Stony Brook University Hospital, “you are getting a massive dose” of pollen.

Tiny pollen particles usually are blocked only by n95 face masks — the ones that must be reserved for health care workers treating COVID-19 patients.

Although nonmedical face masks can block the virus-containing droplets released by a sneeze, they probably will not keep pollen out, doctors said.

Add to that the confusion and fear gripping people unsure whether their sniffles and coughs herald an allergy or the first signs of the killer virus.

One vital distinction? Allergies do not cause fevers, says the nonprofit American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology of Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Still, “we get a lot of calls we triage as best as we can all day long,” said Ponda.

The goal is treating people without sending them to emergency rooms overburdened with COVID-19 patients.

She and Schuval agreed telemedicine has its limits.

Although rashes and hives, swollen eyes or lips can be assessed this way, why a patient's breathing is blocked and tests for specific allergens cannot be, the doctors said.

Until then, allergy sufferers trapped inside might wish to let loose the inner spring cleaning genie.

And remember, “ pollen counts are highest in the early morning,“ Schuval said.