Emergency Room Visits Surged In King County During Record Heat

SEATTLE — At least 13 people died from heat-related illnesses, and two people drowned, over three days of triple-digit temperatures in King County, but the full impact may not be known for weeks, according to public health officials.

Dr. Jeff Duchin, the county's health officer, discussed the record-breaking heat wave during a news briefing Thursday morning, confirming a major surge in emergency room visits and EMS responses as temperatures soared to new highs across the region.

"This event has had a profound impact on our regional health care system," he said. "On Monday, the 28th, there were 226 emergency department visits alone, and the number that have occurred during this event have been between four and 25 times what our most recent daily high number of emergency department visits have been for heat."

For emergency medical calls, Duchin said King County medics logged 370 heat-related responses between Sunday and Tuesday, a figure almost as high as yearlong totals in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

"Our health care facilities are seeing a high volume of sick patients, which resulted both in a stress on emergency responders and our area health care facilities," he said. "The cumulative impacts of this heat event are hard to measure but won't be apparent for months to come."

In Oregon, health officials reported dozens of deaths linked to the heat wave. Authorities in Canada fear hundreds died as areas in British Columbia reached the highest temperatures ever seen across the nation. Several wildfires have forced thousands to evacuate.

Despite being historic, King County's health officer said the latest bout of extreme weather is just a preview of what's to come, pointing to the increasingly severe impacts of climate change.

"This recent heat wave should not be thought of as an anomaly, but the new normal, based on the amount of global warming that has already occurred, and we all need to be prepared, therefore, for increasingly severe weather events and their impacts," Duchin said. "Because the health and economic impacts of climate change are only projected to worsen."

The health officer said reducing emissions would be essential to lessen impacts for future generations but noted it's already too late to stop the effects happening now.

"Even if all human emissions of heat-trapping gasses were to stop today, Earth's temperature would continue to rise for a few decades as ocean currents bring excess heat that's stored in the deep ocean back to the surface," Duchin said. "Climate change has been recognized by health care providers and public health authorities as a health emergency, and reducing greenhouse gases is literally a matter of life and death."

Duchin also highlighted the disproportionate impact of extreme weather on underserved communities, similar to patterns that emerge across health crises, including COVID-19. A recent mapping project in King County found vulnerable groups were also burdened with the highest heat-related risks.

"Impacts of climate change on health are strongly linked to community vulnerability and resilience," Duchin said. "In particular, preexisting health conditions and living conditions in the U.S. and King County — we know these differ by place, race and income due to inequities in distribution of money and power, historical disinvestment in communities, discriminatory practices in policies, structural racism, pollution burdens and fewer access to health care resources. As a result, low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change."

With weather-related crises only expected to get worse in the near future, Duchin said the best way for people to prepare is to educate themselves about the changing climate, learn how to safeguard themselves for the new normal, and do their part to lessen the long-term impacts.

"I'm encouraging everyone to do what you can to learn about this real risk of climate change, what you can do as an individual to help us both manage the consequences that we are already destined to experience, but also more importantly for the sake of our children and future generations, to prevent the more catastrophic impacts of climate change that will occur if we continue to emit greenhouse gas emissions at the rate that we're currently doing," he said.