A story in today’s Arizona Republic highlights the tragic fact that heat-related deaths are outpacing pandemic deaths in Maricopa County. It’s true that most people here are more prepared to deal with 115 degrees or more than the unfortunate folks in the Northwest, who are not used to it and likely don’t have A/C in every car and building. But it’s still hot, which means the homeless (probably 10,000 or so in the Valley) and people who live in older homes and low-income neighborhoods, where houses have swamp coolers at best, are at risk.
The newspaper reports 53 documented heat-related deaths in the last three weeks, compared to 34 for the same period last year. For 2020 the total was 523, which is certainly to be surpassed this year.
“It is very concerning that after a record-setting year, that we are outpacing last year’s numbers so far,” [ASU Professor David] Hondula said.
What would a responsible government do when its citizens are dying from a known cause? “Help” comes to mind.
Maybe city officials should warn people of the dangers in PSAs, TV news shows, online stories, email blasts, politicians’ statements, and public meetings. Perhaps they’ll spend public money to build more shade shelters and distribute water. They might pass laws that prohibit utility companies from shutting off power to homes when the temps are deadly. Heck, they could even go door-to-door to check on shut-ins, especially seniors, the most vulnerable among us.
These and other responses are being proposed and enacted, but you can probably see where I’m going with this. Replace “heat” with “Covid,” and “water” with “vaccine,” and we see how the sociopaths have taken over the GOP (as if you needed this analogy to know that).
Fox and the Greene/Boebert screwball wing in Congress are killing people with disinformation, conspiracies, and fear mongering—all to stick it to Biden and own the libs. Especially if Democrats here, like Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, propose more government action to save lives, I wouldn’t put it past the nutters to tell their cult members:
1) There is no heat problem and no one’s dying, it’s liberal propaganda to control you. 2) Government should not spend taxpayer dollars on relief and other welfare; it encourages people to remain unemployed and homeless. 3) Big Brother cannot tell private companies what to do; next they’ll nationalize the utilities like a commie country. 4) Some solutions are untested and unproven; there could be magnets in the water so Bill Gates can track you. 5) Officials going door-to-door to offer assistance masks a plot to take your guns and bible.
6) Nazis!
7) Freedom!
8) Something something critical race theory.
(The Randians will say the dead deserved it, something Greene might believe but I don’t think even she would say—yet.)
Trump travels to Phoenix July 24 to bless the audit and hold a rally to “protect our elections.” Perhaps he’ll visit the audit’s new location, a very old 20,000-square-foot building that lacks A/C—only swamp coolers. Still, he didn’t acquire an ounce of empathy after contracting Covid himself, so even if his makeup melts and he needs more than two hands to sip a drink, he’s unlikely to urge any assistance for the innocent people dying here.
Why change now?
Trump didn’t personally kill the 600,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19. But he achieved that result in every way he could… By orders of magnitude, it’s the most lethal betrayal of American citizens by their own president.
An hour later: It’s 111 degrees, a huge dust storm just rolled into town and power is out, it’s hotter than hell. But unlike others, like some octogenarian living with no A/C or the homeless I pass everyday on my morning walk, I can expect relief. Many can’t.