The Maricopa County Medical Examiner says admissions for suspected heat-related death cases have now started to slow down after a surge in late June and early July.
Maricopa County is looking into 396 possible heat-related deaths so far this year, according to the county public health department. 27 heat deaths have been confirmed. Those numbers are about 10% higher than they were at the same point last summer.
“It’s a little difficult to compare to last summer because the surge started earlier this year,” Maricopa County chief medical examiner Dr. Jeff Johnston told KJZZ News.
This June was Phoenix’s hottest on record, with temperatures averaging 5.6 degrees above normal. July temperatures so far have averaged 6.1 degrees hotter than normal, according to the National Weather Service.
But Johnston notes drug use and homelessness are also major factors driving up heat-related deaths.
“Certainly it’s getting hotter, but there’s also I think this post-pandemic effect of just having more vulnerable people,” Johnston said.
Among heat deaths confirmed so far this year, more than half have involved drug use and nearly 40% have been among people experiencing homelessness, county data shows.
The number of heat deaths in the county has risen to a new record every year since 2016. Johnston said the last two summers have been particularly overwhelming for his office
“[Summer of 2022] was a real surprise for us, we had never really seen that level of admissions surge. The second year, [2023] was still a bit of a surprise, just because it was so much more intense than the first one,” Johnston said.
Johnston said this summer has been similar to the last two, but he said it’s too soon to tell if 2024 will break yet another record for heat deaths.
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