From the start, the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed America’s social and economic inequality in stark relief, with people of color, the elderly and people with chronic health issues being impacted the hardest. But another invisible threat looms.
This weekend, much of the United States is swathed in a blanket of sweltering heat, as another heatwave begins. Some regions in the Southern half of the country have already been through a week or more of extreme heat with triple-digit heat indexes. And with coronavirus cases still surging in many areas, health officials are fearing a collision will soon take place between the coronavirus and the extreme heat – and that could very well be a dangerous combination, according to CNN.
The same groups of people that are most vulnerable to COVID-19 infections are also most effected by extreme heat. And with millions across the country out of work and the virus forcing vulnerable people to stay in their homes, experts say the pandemic is compounding the heat risk for those who are already struggling. ” Earlier this month, Digital Journal reported that Jon Gottschalck, chief of the Operational Prediction Branch at the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center, said “the first half of July looks to have well-above-normal temperatures, at pretty high probabilities, beginning around the Fourth of July or slightly before.”
According to the Daily Beast, we are now experiencing the “new normal,” thanks to climate change, and it will only get worse unless we do something about it. “The old records belong to a world that no longer exists,” Martin Hoerling, a research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told The Washington Post on Thursday. A combination of high heat and humidity can lead to heat-related illness, including heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Heat-related illness can occur when the ability of the body to cool itself is challenged, or when there are insufficient levels of fluid or salt in the body due to sweating or dehydration.
The threat is greatest for the elderly, young children, people who are overweight, and those who work outside or exercise during the hottest part of the day, according to the CDC. Paul Schramm, the climate science team lead at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points out that with so many elderly stuck in their homes, it is a good idea to check on these family members or elderly neighbors daily during this extreme heat.
Source: DJ
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