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May 08, 2023

Wildfire smoke: White Sox player Yoan Moncada wears mask during rescheduled Yankees game

A Chicago White Sox player wore a face covering during a rescheduled game

A Chicago White Sox player wore a face covering during a rescheduled game between the White Sox and New York Yankees on Thursday. Smoke from the Canadian wildfires forced the postponement of the game from Wednesday.

Chicago Third Baseman Yoan Moncada was spotted with a face mask both at the plate and in the field. Medical experts have said N95 masks and KN95 masks are beneficial when it comes to filtering the air people breathe, but bandanas and surgical masks are not.

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Moncada wore the mask for his first-inning at-bat — he was struck out by Yankee Pitcher Luis Severino.

"When you hear fires in Quebec are affecting our games, it's definitely a little odd,'' Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said in a press conference on Wednesday. "But you have things that come up. [Wednesday], in a lot of ways, works akin to a rainout. But definitely bizarre.''

The Yankees and White Sox were scheduled for a doubleheader in New York City on Thursday. Two games were played back-to-back to make up for Wednesday's cancellation.

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The games occurred as more than half of the United States was blanketed in heavy smoke, which put roughly 90 million people under air quality alerts. Among the cities affected were New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Detroit, and Jersey City.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised on Thursday that properly wearing a respirator mask could be effective against the damaging health consequences of wildfire smoke. wearing a mask can serve as an alternative to staying indoors. Wearing an N95 or P100 respirator mask can filter out the particulate matter that makes wildfire smoke especially toxic.