Heat-related illnesses have increased significantly according to a newly released report from Harris County Public Health.
According to the "Health Impacts of Excessive Heat in Harris County 2024" report, there have been over 7,600 cases of heat-related illnesses between 2019 and 2023. Seventy-three percent of all cases occurred in men, and over a third of all cases occurred in Hispanic or Latino residents with 29% occurring in Black or African American residents and 26% in White residents. About 14% of all cases were job-related.
Jennifer Kiger is the Director of the Office of Epidemiology, Surveillance and Emerging Diseases at Harris County Public Health. She said this data is closely correlated to increased heat and humidity.
"I do think that there's more awareness of heat illnesses, which has been good," she said. "I think we could do a lot better, based on what we've seen and just because there is such a strong correlation between the two."
According to the report, the county's average temperature has been increasing by .7 or .75 degrees Fahrenheit each decade since 1975. Most reported heat-illness cases happened on days that were at least 103 degrees.
Kiger said outdoor workers, people who don't have access to air conditioning or cooling, and individuals with chronic health conditions are most affected by the heat. She said there were also more deaths in 2023, which was the hottest summer in Houston.
"Heat-related deaths rose by 231%, so we know that in 2023 we had more instances of excessive heat and we saw a correlation with the number of deaths increasing substantially," she said.
Areas of Harris County like Gulfton, where there's a lot of concrete and little greenspaces, are known to be hot spots in the region. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, heat islands occur when a developed area experiences higher temperatures than a rural one.
Dr. Ericka Brown with Harris County Public Health said hot zones in the region could be mitigated.
"Considering adding some greenery, replanting trees, adding rooftop greenery and then certainly opening as many cooling centers as possible that are accessible to anyone in the community," Brown said.
Brown said symptoms of heat illness that should be monitored include nausea, headaches, light-headedness, and muscle cramps.
"When we start moving into more dangerous heat stroke, unfortunately, the body will stop sweating. And at that point, there really is an emergent situation where someone needs to seek medical attention urgently," she said.