“This is a new tool that will help us understand the risk hot weather presents to us. We have moved beyond, ‘it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity;’ it’s much more complicated than that, and this dashboard offers better insight into your risk,” State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in Tuesday’s announcement. “The New York State Heat Risk and Illness Dashboard uses real time data points to help communities and decisionmakers — like school officials and employers — make informed choices, such as adjusting outdoor activities or opening cooling centers. The Department will continue to help increase awareness of the health risks associated with increasing temperatures and to provide tools needed to make healthy choices.”
This new dashboard may eventually help local public schools comply with a recent change to the maximum allowable temperature for classrooms. In January, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law that set the maximum allowable temperature for classrooms and other spaces used by students in public school buildings at 88 degrees. Many schools are not equipped with air conditioning in every classroom, so when the temperature rises beyond that threshold, students will have to be moved to cooler environments. The law goes into effect this September to allow schools time to establish management plans.
According to the state DOH, the Heat Risk and Illness Dashboard uses data from the National Weather Service, New York State Mesonet (via the New York State Weather Risk Communications Center), and the New York State Department of Health. Health measures come from what the DOH described as “electronic syndromic surveillance system reports of heat-related emergency department visits and emergency medical services calls for heat-related illnesses.” The Dashboard provides current heat information, as well as recent patterns in heat-related illness across the state, which can be compared against recent historical data.
The Dashboard also uses the “HeatRisk” forecast system developed by the National Weather Service and the CDC, which uses a five-level color-coded scale to illustrate the potential risks of heat-related impacts for up to seven days in advance. Each level corresponds to a different level of heat risk, similar to the DEC’s fire risk assessment, to help identify areas forecasted to have greater health risks from heat exposure so that local officials, and residents, can be more informed.
Currently, as one would expect, there is little to no risk of heat-related illness, so the area is highlighted green on the Dashboard for the next few days. As the colors intensify (yellow, orange, red, and purple), so do the risks. Of course, age and one’s health conditions may affect a person’s response to changes in heat as well, which is also noted in the Dashboard.
According to the Dashboard, last year there were 18 heat-related emergency department visits in Warren County, with most taking place between late June and early August.
Along with the Dashboard, the state will also be working with local municipalities to keep a running list of available cooling centers open in our area. Warren County lists four established cooling centers on the state DOH website: Aviation Mall, the Bolton Free Library, Crandall Public Library, and the Open Door Mission.
To check out the Dashboard, visit health.ny.gov/statistics/environmental/heat_dashboard/.
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