High Heat Warnings Go Out Too Late In Some Of US, Study Says

A new study finds even moderate heat sends Northerners to the hospital, suggesting that government warnings of dangerously high temperatures are coming too late in some parts of the U.S.

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The research shows an uptick in hospital admissions for heat problems long before alerts go out in northern, generally cooler states. And that’s happening at lower temperatures than in the toastier South, where people are more accustomed to the heat.“Alerts are not occurring early enough,” said Dr. Renee Salas, an emergency room doctor and researcher at the Harvard Global Health Institute.

Salas, who wasn’t part of the study, called it important in a warming world where heat illnesses are going to only get worse. The research was published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal agencies studied hospital admissions for heat-related illnesses in 22 states over a decade. They found 36,000 such hospitalizations a summer, on average.