City endures triple-digit heat wave
WOONSOCKET – Yup, it’s hot.
But don’t go looking for relief in any of the usual inner city spots you might have relied on in the past – especially if you’re a senior citizen or a kid.
Thanks to COVID-19 and the continuing restrictions on social gatherings – most of them are gone.
“I feel very bad that we can’t open the community halls as a cooling station,” says Robert Moreau, executive director of the Woonsocket Housing Authority. “It’s been bothering me all summer. I just can’t take the chance of spreading COVID throughout the buildings.”
The community halls in the WHA’s five high-rises are just a few of the places that are shut off to seniors looking for some respite from feellike temperatures that exceeded 100 degrees in the Greater Woonsocket area on Monday. The Gaston A. Ayotte Jr. Memorial Senior Citizens Center, one of several longstanding cooling centers, has been closed since March and is not presently opening as a cooling center, city officials say.
Somebody should tell that to the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency:
On its online list of cooling centers, RIEMA includes four sites in Woonsocket, including Adelard Arena at Mount St. Charles Academy.
There were hockey coaches working inside the ice rink yesterday – it was a comfy 50 degrees or so – wearing parkas and winter toques, but General Manager Matt Campanelli had no idea the state was listing the facility as a hot-weather cooling center.
“Those lists are out of date,” says city Human Services Director Linda Plays. “It’s a challenge due to COVID-19.”
Unless their parents could get them to Lincoln Woods State Park or one of the beaches in Washington County, local kids stuck in the city are probably having a harder time finding public respite from the heat. The splash pad at World War II Park, a haven for many city families this time of year, is also closed due to COVID-19.
There was one tiny oasis of watery relief at the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Rhode Island on Kendrick Avenue, where three youngsters giggled with delight as they dashed through the fountains and spray features at the nonprofit facility’s splash park. But Child Care Director
Aaron Auslander says even the Boys and Girls Club has been forced to roll back access to the facility due to COVID-19.
,ndeed, the club has scaled back capacity for all programs this season to about half. Right now the club is operating with Must four classrooms of 13 youngsters in each one. Last year it wouldn't have been unusual for 20 or so kids to run through the splash pad, but this summer it's not unusual to see Must a handful, simply because there are fewer kids around.
Just operating a youth program in compliance with the prevailing social distancing guidance is a significant chore, says Auslander. Every time one group of children uses the splash pad, it has to be sanitized before the next group comes in.
“Even like as far as using the rest room it's one kid in the bathroom at a time,” says the child care director. “And you have to disinfect it in between each kid and each classroom is assigned a toilet... it's a lot of work.”
Auslander seemed surprised that the city hasn't opened up its splash pad, but he understands why. 8nlike the Boys and Girls Club, which knows who its members are and can easily regulate capacity, the city is running a public park and would have a much more difficult time of controlling who gets in.
Not only would it be onerous to enforce social distancing, Auslander says, but the situation might put the city at risk of being blamed if an individual were to claim he or she caught COVID-19 at the splash pad.
On its web site, the Rhode ,sland Department of Health acknowledges that there will likely be fewer opportunities for cooling off in hot weather due to COVID-19.
“7his summer, social distancing rules due to the COVID-19 pandemic are causing more people to stay home and potentially suffer in hot homes and apartments,” RIDOH says.
At the high rise towers for the elderly and disabled, Moreau says the WHA has tried to make it as affordable as possible for tenants to get air conditioning. Still, however, Must over 100 of the 630 units in the high-rises do not have air-conditioning.
7he buildings, said Moreau, date back to the 1970s and were not designed with central air conditioning systems. 7he only way to artificially cool an apartment in the summertime is with a window-mounted unit. 7he WHA charges an annual fee of 50 for smaller air conditioners, 75 for anything more powerful than 8,000 B78.
For some tenants, cost has nothing to do with choosing not to have an air conditioner, Moreau said.
“They don't like air conditioning,” he said. “We can't make someone get an air condition who doesn't want one and we keep the price very reasonable for them to have one.”
“The other story on Tuesday will be a decent chance for some scattered strong to severe storms ahead of the... cold front,” the NWS says. But cold is a relative term in for the NWS temperatures nudge down a bit Wednesday through Sunday, but daytime highs are generally expected to reach in the middle to high 80s for the duration of the period. There may be fewer spots to hide from the heat this summer, but RIDOH says the advice for enduring extreme high temperatures safely hasn't changed. Keep an eye on loved ones and neighbors who may be at risk, drink plenty of fluids and seek medical attention immediately for anyone showing signs of heat stroke. Anyone who goes outside should avoid direct sunshine and schedule activities that require physical exertion in the morning. ,n homes that lack air conditioning, open windows, turn on a fan and keep the shades drawn during the day. “It is important to check on elderly family and neighbors and to encourage them to use air conditions at home,” RIDOH says.