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How many people does heat actually kill? It depends on how you count it
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this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2026
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Heat deaths due to cold should be treated differently than those due to heat. Why? Most heat deaths are just accelerating what's likely to happen over the next few weeks or months. Already weak or sick people are not able to tolerate the added work of dealing with heat. They were going to die and the heat accelerated what was already happening.
Deaths due to cold exposure typically happen to people otherwise healthy and unlikely to die in the near future.
not doubting it, but do you have anything to backup the first point about heat only killing those who were days/months from death already?
You won't get an answer because he's wrong. This link shows some stats about heat stroke in America. People under 5 years old die at a rate of 190 per 100k, the it craters to 27 per 100k from 5 to 14 and keeps climbing from there, peaking for those between 55 and 64. Note that deaths between 35 and 44 are more than half that of the cohort most likely to die of heat stroke, not people you wouldn't consider in their best condition.
Everything about that chart says that unmanaged heat is very dangerous and as we get older it gets harder to handle, at least once we are over the age of 5 and our heat regulation mechanisms have matured.
This is the same excuse anti-vaxxers use for why it's okay that children and old people die from the flu. "The flu isnt dangerous, it only kills the ones who are too weak to survive." Of course, kids who don't die of the flu live just fine for decades, whether they avoid doing so by luck or vaccination, and while seniors won't necessarily live for decades if they avoid the flu or heat stroke, they can still live for years. Here's an abstract talking about morbidity for people over 80. 23.9% mortality for those without the flu vaccine vs 20.9% for those with, for total morbidities. There is a significant reduction in all morbidities if these really old people just don't get the flu.