Jennifer Faerber and her three-month-old son, Harrison, are packing their bags to leave Canberra in search of clean air, having barely left their house since December 8.

"I've cried, apologising to my baby as I feed him for bringing him into this and for not being able to protect him from it," Ms Faerber says. "His little lungs have probably smoked a pack a day for a third of his life, even while we shelter inside."

Jennifer Faerber and her three-month-old son, Harrison.

Although the comparison with cigarette smoke is inexact, on the first day of 2020, parts of Canberra had an air quality index (AQI) reading of above 7500. Anything above 200 is considered dangerous to your health. The advice from ACT Health has been to stay inside with windows and doors closed and avoiding the use of airconditioners that rely on outside air.

While Ms Faerber has taken the ACT Health advice and stayed indoors during this time, inside her home isn’t much better. After buying an air purifier, she was shocked to see the readings in her son’s nursery surpassed an AQI of 450, almost 10 times higher than is considered healthy.