PHOENIX — The toll of heat-associated deaths in Arizona’s maximum populous county — nonetheless being tallied after the area’s hottest summer ever recorded — has soared over 360, alarming public well being officers who say the ultimate rely will no doubt set a brand new record.
Maricopa County, the hottest metropolitan area in the U.S. and residential to Phoenix, reported this week that 361 heat-associated deaths were showed this yr as of Oct. 7. Another 238 deaths remained beneath investigation.
As of the similar time final yr, 331 heat-associated deaths have been showed, with any other 126 deaths nonetheless being studied. No different primary metropolitan area in the U.S. has reported such prime figures or spends such a lot time monitoring and learning them.
“It definitely looks like we’ll see more deaths than last year and maybe even more than 500,” mentioned Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, clinical director for Maricopa County Public Health. “But we won’t really know until the end of the season.”
Maricopa County set an annual record last year with 425 heat-associated deaths confirmed.
This summer, Phoenix experienced the hottest three months since record-keeping began in 1895, including the hottest July and the second-hottest August. The daily average temperature of 97 F (36.1 C) in June, July and August passed the previous record of 96.7 F (35.9 C) set three years ago.
Phoenix also set a record in July with a 31-day streak of highs at or above 110 F (43.3 C).
Sunenshine said Maricopa County began tracking heat-associated deaths in 2005, then gradually began collecting additional information, including the age, sex, race and ethnicity of those who died and whether they were indoors or outside when they got sick.
Investigators also began noting whether those who died inside had an air conditioner, whether it was working and whether there was electricity to power it. Sunenshine said collecting that kind of information has led to rules requiring regulated power companies to keep the electricity running during hot spells even if the bills haven’t been paid.
“It’s really important to know the circumstances around these deaths,” Sunenshine said. “It can lead to policy changes.”
The number of people dying from heat-related causes has risen not only in the Phoenix area, but across the U.S. and around the world as climate change makes heat waves more frequent, intense and enduring.
Counting such deaths can take months of investigation, including toxicological tests, to determine whether heat was a contributing factor in someone’s death. The deaths Maricopa County tallies include ones that were the direct result of high temperatures, such as heatstroke, as well as ones in which heat was a contributing factor, such as a heart attack provoked by the hot weather.
Approximately three-fourths of the heat-associated deaths in Maricopa County so far this year year were outside. About 44% of those who died were people experiencing homelessness in a county where an estimated 10,000 don’t have permanent housing. More than a third of all the people who died were 65 or older.
There were 89 indoor heat deaths in the county showed to this point, most commonly in houses the place the air con used to be no longer operating or grew to become off.
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