France heat wave linked to more than 2,000 extra deaths in one week
Public Health France said deaths rose 29% during the hottest week of a record heat wave, with incomplete data pointing to a higher toll.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
France recorded more than 2,000 additional deaths during the hottest week of a record heat wave, according to Public Health France. The preliminary figures show the strain extreme heat put on hospitals, care homes, funeral services and people living alone.
The national public health agency said Friday that it had counted 8,973 deaths for the week of June 22 to June 28. That was 2,025 more than the 6,948 deaths registered the previous week, when temperatures were already rising.
Public Health France said the week-to-week increase amounted to 29% across all causes of death and all age groups. The agency cautioned that the count remains incomplete and said the final mortality figure will be higher than the first numbers show.
The new tally is twice as high as the agency’s earlier preliminary estimate, which had put the number of additional deaths at at least 1,000. That first estimate covered only three of the hottest days, according to the Associated Press.
Heat hit homes, hospitals and care facilities
Public Health France said deaths in private homes rose especially sharply, increasing 91% from the previous week. Deaths in care homes for older people climbed 37%, while hospital deaths were up nearly 20%.
The Paris region appeared to be the worst affected area, the agency said, with deaths rising nearly 63% from one week to the next. The agency’s figures cover a period in which many French cities and towns broke records for daytime highs and overnight temperatures.
Hospitals were already seeing the effect before the deadliest week began. Dr. Nicolas Gonzales, head of the emergency department at Paris-Saclay Hospital, told the Associated Press that heat-exposure patients began arriving in large numbers on June 20.
Gonzales said staff treated patients with heart attacks, dehydration, kidney problems and other heat-related conditions. The patients included children as well as older people living alone, he told the AP.
Funeral services report storage shortages
The increase in deaths also affected funeral operators in Paris. Funeral service directors have said they struggled to find space to hold bodies before burial or cremation, according to the AP.
Some mortuaries said they had no capacity left and had to refuse bodies, the AP reported. The pressure came as emergency wards were already treating patients harmed by the heat.
The heat wave also broke temperature records beyond France, with several parts of Europe reporting new highs, according to the AP. In France, the week covered by the latest mortality tally included the country’s hottest days on record.
Public Health France said its current numbers should be treated as an early assessment because they are based on partial death registrations. The agency said that means the true toll from the heat wave is underestimated in the latest release.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.