Heat-related ER visits last weekend highest in last 2 seasons in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The combination of high temperatures and stifling humidity last weekend led to the highest number of heat-related emergency room visits in the last two seasons.

Kansas City, Missouri, health officials tell KSHB 41 News that between Saturday, July 25, and Monday, July 27, the city reported 99 emergency room visits for heat-related illness. That’s a significant jump from the previous three-day period from July 22-24, when there were five heat-related ER visits.

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A health department spokesperson said the spike last weekend was considered an “anomaly,” in that they “vastly exceeded the number of individuals we would expect to be in the ER for heat illness, taking into consideration the time of year and recent counts.”

The 99 ER visits are the “highest three-day total for the previous two heat seasons,” the spokesperson said.

Highs from July 25-27 hovered near 100 degrees for several afternoons, generating heat index values between 110 and 120 degrees. Worse still, overnight temperatures struggled to drop below 80 degrees, leaving little time for relief.

Health officials also reported 13 confirmed heat-related hospitalizations between July 21 and July 27.

Data on any heat-related deaths is often delayed because they require confirmation by a medical examiner’s office following an autopsy.

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