Cities forced to rethink how to offer heat relief
Vulnerable populations won’t be able to rely on traditional cooling spots
OTTAWA—A heat wave engulfing large swaths of Ontario and Quebec could spell tragedy for the people who are already most at risk from COVID-19, health experts warn.
Environment Canada issued a heat warning this week for much of southern and eastern Ontario, as well as special weather statements related to heat for parts of the province and most of Quebec.
Like COVID-19, rising summer temperatures are most dangerous for seniors and people with underlying health conditions, but unlike past summers, many of those people won’t be able to fall back on the relief of air-conditioned malls, libraries or recreation centres. Movie theatres that offer cool darkness in addition to fun flicks are closed. Splash pads and wading pools that usually open in late spring are dry.
“This could lead to a huge wave of excess deaths around something that was completely preventable,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics for Sinai Health System in Toronto.
In Quebec, two-thirds of longterm-care residents are without air conditioning in their rooms, he said — as many as 28,000 residents.
Typically, homes deal with summer heat by gathering people together in air-conditioned spaces, but that’s not possible when residents, who are particularly at risk of dying from COVID-19, need to be kept apart.
Canada’s deputy chief public officer, Dr. Howard Njoo, suggested Tuesday that long-termcare homes should set up fans and take residents outdoors in shifts.
But this is a problem that governments should have seen coming, Sinha said.
After more than 90 deaths were linked to the sweltering 2018 heat wave in Quebec, mostly among older people and people with underlying health conditions, he said little has been done to turn down the heat in long-term care.
Balancing the need for heat relief with measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus will be a challenge for municipalities as scorching temperatures engulf a stretch of Central Canada, the country’s chief public health officer said Tuesday.
While some indoor and outdoor spaces that are currently shuttered due to the pandemic can be opened up to help residents cool down, ensuring compliance with physical distancing and other health measures is key, Dr. Theresa Tam said.
“All of those measures will still apply, unfortunately, so that would be one aspect of it that people will have to respect,” Tam said.
Minimizing the risk of COVID-19 transmission is easier outdoors, but problems arise when people need to use communal spaces such as restrooms, which municipalities must take into consideration, Tam said.
“So the numbers of people that can be accommodated may not be necessarily due to the restrictions of that open space but due to ... access to these common services so they will have their specific plans to deal with that,” she said.
Meanwhile, seniors who live independently may be without air conditioning and unwilling to leave their homes to find cooler spaces for fear of putting themselves at risk of contracting the virus, Sinha said.
“Seniors are really left with really limited options,” he said.
The kind of isolation COVID-19 demands might also mean people who develop dehydration or other heat-related health emergencies might not have the support they need, said Dr. Sandy Buchman, president of the Canadian Medical Association.
That’s why air conditioning is so important, as are social supports for vulnerable people living alone, he said.
Cooling centres with adequate physical distancing measures will also be vital.
“They need it, or we’re going to see people succumb to this,” Buchman said.