In a memo from the New York City health department to healthcare workers on Thursday, a heat advisory warned that “Structural racism and the resulting social and economic inequities increase the risk of heat stress for Black New Yorkers” and that Black people were twice as likely to die from heat as White New Yorkers, according to the memo.
The “economic inequities” that the NYC Health Department referenced had to do with those who did not have or use air conditioners and were overcome by heat in their homes. The memo also said that “fans do not provide sufficient cooling during extreme heat.
The heat advisory is in effect for Thursday, August 4, and Friday, August 5, with heat indices forecasted to be over 100 on Thursday and in the upper 90s on Friday.