For Seniors, Heat and COVID Create 'a Perfect Storm for Bad Things,' Researchers Warn

A new Climate Central report said climate change will be especially harmful to baby boomers, and COVID-19 adds to the risk, according to the Nevada Current . Average summer temperatures in Nevada's cities have risen significantly in the past 50 years, while the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that heat-related deaths have more than quadrupled in Nevada from 28 in 2014 to 139 in 2017. Boomers over 60 years old currently account for more than 80 percent of heat-related deaths nationally, and the Census Bureau calculated that the number of retirement-age residents is rapidly growing in Nevada, with nearly one in six 65 or older. Climate Central said U.S. cities were an average 2.4 degrees hotter than the surrounding rural areas during the past 10 summers due to blacktop and pavement, but long-term greenhouse gas emissions and global warming exacerbate rising temperatures. Researchers are worried COVID-19 will elevate the risk to seniors during hotter summers. Social distancing could prevent seniors from using traditional cooling centers or local air-conditioned sites like libraries or shopping centers — or neighborhood casinos in Nevada — as they shun public places and personal contact. "As the summer months roll around, if you are isolated, if you are elderly and it's hot out, and you are concerned about COVID, we're kind of entering the perfect storm for bad things to happen," warned University of Colorado School of Medicine Professor Jay Lemery.