Heat-Related ER Visits Soar in Florida

Florida is seeing the highest number of heat-related illnesses in the country, reveals a new report from the Florida Policy Institute.

As Ashley Miznazi explains in Governing, “The state saw more than 26,000 emergency room visits and 5,000 hospitalizations for heat-related illness between 2018 and 2022, according to the most recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control data compiled by the Orlando-based institute, a non-profit organization that researches health, education and other policy issues.” In a similar period (2017 to 2021), roughly 150 people died of heat-related causes in the state.

An accurate count of heat-related deaths is not always available, “with heat’s impact watered down in official statistics,” Mizrazi notes. “For example, when someone is hospitalized for a condition worsened by heat, their provider typically records only the chronic illness as a cause. The new report also highlights that some Floridians, such as outdoor workers who may fear retaliation from employers for reporting an incident, are also excluded from national statistics.”

With extreme heat expected to become a more widespread problem, understanding heat deaths and who is at risk is a crucial public health issue. Yet in Florida, state lawmakers recently passed a law blocking local governments from enforcing any heat-related protections for workers.

In addition to the half million outdoor workers in the state, the report notes that over 5.7 million Florida residents are “socially vulnerable” to heat due to disability, a lack of health insurance, and a lack of cooling in their homes.