Death toll reaches 33 in Quebec heat wave
As Environment Canada issued a smog and heat warning for the Montreal area Thursday, the number of potential deaths linked to the extreme heat wave hitting Quebec jumped to 33, public health officials said. Of these, 18 died in Montreal from heat-related complications, up from 12 a day earlier; Montérégie had two deaths, the Eastern Townships had seven, Laval one and Mauricie five.
Most of the victims were men between the ages of 50 and 85 who lived alone in highrise apartments with no air conditioning, or suffered from chronic health or precarious living conditions, including homelessness, mental health issues and substance use.
Even one death is too many, said Lucie Charlebois, the provincial public health minister, at a press conference Thursday. But some people are more vulnerable than others to extreme heat and smog, she said. Charlebois defended the province’s emergency approach in the face of recordbreaking temperatures. None of the deaths occurred in a public longterm care nursing home, a residential and long-term care centre or in a hospital. Those who died were already suffering from health problems, she said. Montreal’s civil protection agency door-to-door campaign visited more than 3,400 homes. UrgencesSanté logged 30 per cent more calls for help since the weekend. It responded to more than 1,200 calls. “We’re doing the best we can,” Charlebois said. “All deaths are regrettable. We’d like to have no deaths at all, but everyday people die.” As for patients in hospitals and palliative care centres who are being told to bring their own fans, Charlebois said provisions have been made to move them into cooler common areas with air conditioning for a couple of hours a day to minimize the impact of the heat. A 10-year plan to improve older, dilapidated facilities is now underway, Charlebois said. “But nothing can be done in 10 minutes.” Meanwhile, everything is being done to ensure the comfort of patients and health workers in health facilities without air conditioning, she said. Charlebois said. The opposition is playing petty politics on the backs of the most vulnerable segment of the population, she said. According to Dr. Mylène Drouin, head of the regional health authority, the extreme heat intervention plan was launched a day early because of a spike in visits to hospital emergency rooms. However, until the provincial coroner investigates, it will be difficult to say with certainty what caused the current wave of deaths, she added. It’s not clear why Quebec seems to have had more deaths than provinces like Ontario, which is also in the grip of extreme heat and humidity. Quebec remains vigilant about recording heat-related deaths, but other provinces may have different reporting systems, Drouin said.