{"id":1200944,"date":"2023-09-05T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=3b32dd174cd02d4635dec7e09eb754b1"},"modified":"2023-09-05T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T13:00:00","slug":"how-many-people-are-really-dying-from-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/09\/05\/how-many-people-are-really-dying-from-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"How many people are really dying from heat?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Hello, and welcome to this week\u2019s edition of Record High. <\/strong>I\u2019m Zoya Teirstein, and today, we\u2019re looking at why the United States undercounts heat-related deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every week between May and October, the Maricopa County Department of Public Health in Arizona releases a heat morbidity report. The most recent<\/a> counted 180 people who have died from heat-associated illness in the county this year so far. But in the course of reporting on the topic this week<\/a>, I found out most people agree that that number is off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If previous years are any indication, the true number of heat-related deaths in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, is much higher: At the end of last summer, the county revised its initial reports upwards by a factor of five, ultimately reporting a sobering 425 heat-related deaths in total<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n