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Extreme heat events are the deadliest weather-related event in the United States. Cities throughout the United States have worked to develop heat adaptation strategies to limit the impact of extreme heat on vulnerable populations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges to local governments. This paper provides a preliminary review of strategies and interventions used to manage compound COVID-19-extreme heat events in the 25 most populous cities of the United States. Heat adaptation strategies employed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic were not adequate to meet during the co-occurring compound hazard of COVID-19-EHE. Long-term climate-adaptation strategies will require leveraging physical, financial, and community resources across multiple city departments to meet the needs of compound hazards, such as COVID-19 and extreme heat. • Cities faced compound crises of COVID-19 and extreme heat in 2020. • 2020 heat response plans analyzed for 25 largest US cities. • Public health and financial limitations significantly reduced cooling access. • Record breaking temperatures left many vulnerable to heat illness and death. • Adaptation and mitigation strategies are needed to manage compound heat events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: High temperatures have substantial impacts on mortality and, with growing concerns about climate change, numerous studies have developed projections of future heat-related deaths around the world. Projections of temperature-related mortality are often limited by insufficient information to formulate hypotheses about population sensitivity to high temperatures and fixture demographics. OBJECTIVES: The present study derived projections of temperature-related mortality in New York City by taking into account future patterns of adaptation or demographic change, both of which can have profound influences on fixture health burdens. METHODS: We adopted a novel approach to modeling heat adaptation by incorporating an analysis of the observed population response to heat in New York City over the course of eight decades. This approach projected heat-related mortality until the end of the 21st century based on observed trends in adaptation over a substantial portion of the 20th century. In addition, we incorporated a range of new scenarios for population change until the end of the 21st century. We then estimated future heat-related deaths in New York City by combining the changing temperature -- mortality relationship and population scenarios with downscaled temperature projections from the 33 global climate models (GCMs) and two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). RESULTS: The median number of projected annual heat-related deaths across the 33 GCMs varied greatly by RCP and adaptation and population change scenario, ranging from 167 to 3,331 in the 2080s compared with 638 heat-related deaths annually between 2000 and 2006. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide a more complete picture of the range of potential future heat-related mortality risks across the 21st century in New York City, and they highlight the importance of both demographic change and adaptation responses in modifying future risks. CITATION: Petkova EP, Vink JK, Horton RM, Gasparrini A, Bader DA, Francis JD, Kinney PL. 2017. Towards more comprehensive projections of urban heat-related mortality: estimates for New York City under multiple population, adaptation, and climate scenarios. Environ Health Perspect 125:47-55; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHPl66 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses heat illness among U.S. high school athletes, based on an analysis of data from the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study for the period 2005-2009 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the findings, time-loss heat illness, defined as dehydration or heat exhaustion/heat stroke, occurred most frequently among football players. It cites that heat-acclimatization guidelines should be implemented by school athletic programs to reduce the risk for such illnesses.

Information about several topics discussed at a U.S. National Summit convened by the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment on Coping with Climate Change is presented. Included were discussions about impacts to the electricity supply, adaptations to changes in water quality and quantity and scenarios for managing environmental crises.

Background: Heat stress and fescue toxicosis caused by ingesting tall fescue infected with the endophytic fungus Epichloë coenophiala represent two of the most prevalent stressors to beef cattle in the United States and cost the beef industry millions of dollars each year. The rate at which a beef cow sheds her winter coat early in the summer is an indicator of adaptation to heat and an economically relevant trait in temperate or subtropical parts of the world. Furthermore, research suggests that early-summer hair shedding may reflect tolerance to fescue toxicosis, since vasoconstriction induced by fescue toxicosis limits the ability of an animal to shed its winter coat. Both heat stress and fescue toxicosis reduce profitability partly via indirect maternal effects on calf weaning weight. Here, we developed parameters for routine genetic evaluation of hair shedding score in American Angus cattle, and identified genomic loci associated with variation in hair shedding score via genome-wide association analysis (GWAA). Results: Hair shedding score was moderately heritable (h2 = 0.34 to 0.40), with different repeatability estimates between cattle grazing versus not grazing endophyte-infected tall fescue. Our results suggest modestly negative genetic and phenotypic correlations between a dam's hair shedding score (lower score is earlier shedding) and the weaning weight of her calf, which is one metric of performance. Together, these results indicate that economic gains can be made by using hair shedding score breeding values to select for heat-tolerant cattle. GWAA identified 176 variants significant at FDR < 0.05. Functional enrichment analyses using genes that were located within 50 kb of these variants identified pathways involved in keratin formation, prolactin signalling, host-virus interaction, and other biological processes. Conclusions: This work contributes to a continuing trend in the development of genetic evaluations for environmental adaptation. Our results will aid beef cattle producers in selecting more sustainable and climate-adapted cattle, as well as enable the development of similar routine genetic evaluations in other breeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of urban land surfaces contribute to the urban heat island, and, in turn, can exacerbate the severity of heat wave impacts. However, the mechanisms and complex interactions in urban areas underlying land surface temperature are still being understood. Understanding these mechanisms is necessary to design strategies that mitigate land temperatures in our cities. Using the recently available night-time moderate-resolution thermal satellite imagery and employing advanced nonlinear statistical models, we seek to answer the question "What is the influence and relative importance of urban characteristics on land surface temperature, during both the day and night?" To answer this question, we analyze urban land surface temperature in four cities across the United States. We devise techniques for training and validating nonlinear statistical models on geostatistical data and use these models to assess the interdependent effects of urban characteristics on urban surface temperature. Our results suggest that vegetation and impervious surfaces are the most important urban characteristics associated with land surface temperature. While this may be expected, this is the first study to quantify this relationship for Landsat-resolution nighttime temperature estimates. Our results also demonstrate the potential for using nonlinear statistical analysis to investigate land surface temperature and its relationships with urban characteristics. Improved understanding of these relationships influencing both night and day land surface temperature will assist planners undertaking climate change adaptation and heat wave mitigation. • The first study for LST and urban factors using Landsat nighttime temperatures • A comparative analysis of surface temperature for four USA cities • Advanced statistical techniques for geospatial data capture nonlinear behavior • Increased perviousness and vegetation lower nighttime urban surface temperature • Data, model, and spatial resolution uncertainty quantified [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of recommended and recalculated thermal process parameters to achieve mandatory 5-log reduction of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), Salmonella , and Listeria monocytogenes in fruit juices in the United States. Logarithms of published D -values of pathogens were plotted against temperatures (°C) to recalculate the pasteurization parameters for apple, orange and all studied fruit juices. Fruit juices were inoculated with non-adapted cells grown in TSB without glucose and acid adapted strains grown in TSB containing 1% glucose and TSB with adjusted pH to 5.0 with 1 N HCl. Microcapillary tubes with inoculated apple and orange juice were heat treated in water bath at 71 ± 1 °C for 6, 12, 36, and 48 ± 1 s. Acid adaptation increased the heat resistance of STEC, Salmonella , and L. monocytogenes. Different acid adaptation procedures affected thermal tolerance responses of tested strains. A 5-log reduction of Salmonella and STEC at 71.1 °C was achieved with minimum heat treatment for 6 s in apple juice and 6 to 12 ± 1 s in orange juice. Data presented in this study suggests that current recommended pasteurization parameters failed to reduce viable acid adapted L. monocytogenes by 5-log. • Pasteurization parameters were recalculated for fruit juices based on published data. • Recommended and recalculated parameters were tested for apple and orange juice. • Acid adaptation methodology affected thermal tolerance responses of pathogens. • Recommended processing times failed to achieve 5-log reduction of L. monocytogenes. • 36 s at 71.1 °C achieved a 5-log reduction of pathogens in both fruit juices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]