The Florida Department of Health said they reached an agreement with Mote Marine Laboratory to being air quality monitoring for red tide starting October 8.
The DOH says the first three counties to be sampled will be Pinellas County, Sarasota County and Lee County.
This decision comes after a large community push demanding answers about how the blue-green algae and red tide blooms affect our health, and whether toxins are airborne.
MORE: DOH ran limited air-quality testing amid blue-green algae
The DOH said they will monitor the transportation of red tide aerosols with high volume air samplers. They will then analyze samples to assess the amount of brevotoxins present, gauging human and animal exposure.
FGCU scientists are running their own independent air quality tests at several locations in Cape Coral. They are looking at microsystins from blue-green algae.
FGCU’s test results will be ready in a few weeks.