580 died in B.C. due to heat wave, according to latest coroner analysis
The BC Coroners Service now believes 580 people died in a record heat wave, but warns that figure is still preliminary and subject to change.
On Monday, the service announced that the number of people who died during the week of the heat wave had risen to 815; the five-year average for deaths during that week is just 198.
But CTV News has now learned that in her latest discussion with her chief medical health officer, the province’s chief coroner is now attributing 580 of those deaths to extreme heat at this point.
“That’s a working number, that is not a final number yet,” said Lisa LaPointe. “The medical certificates for some were signed as ‘interim’ which means the cause of death is pending final resolution of review of medical records and interviews with families.”
While the temperatures were similar across the Pacific Northwest region, B.C. saw far more deaths than U.S. states under the record-breaking heat dome. Their officials have already published detailed demographic information, but the same findings will take much longer north of the border.
“Our challenge, of course, is while we had a 400 per cent increase in death, we still have the same number of staff,” said LaPointe. “Our coroners are doing the very best they can in terms of gathering information.”
The vast majority of people died in the Metro Vancouver area, with Fraser Health seeing the most fatalities during the heat wave.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
What Michael Cohen said on the stand in Trump hush money case
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial took the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
Police release 3D images of young child found in an Ontario river two years ago
Police have released a three-dimensional image of a young child whose remains were discovered in the Grand River in Dunnville, Ont. almost two years ago.
Kamala Harris drops F-bomb during White House live-stream
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris used a profanity on Monday while offering advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders about how to break through barriers.
Western University researchers unlock potential 'cure' for ALS
New research out of London, Ont.’s Western University is shedding light on a potential cure for ALS, in which the targeting of the interaction between two proteins can halt or fully reverse the disease’s progression.
Behind the barricades: How protesters spend their first days in a new encampment
Students in Montreal describe life in a newly erected encampment in Montreal as a whirlwind of preparations, from facing rain and a potential police crackdown to setting up a space for the exchange of ideas.
Collapsed Baltimore bridge span comes down with a boom after crews set off chain of explosives
Crews conducted a controlled demolition Monday to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Canucks' Soucy suspended 1 game, Zadorov fined $5,000 for post-game crosschecks on McDavid
A Vancouver Canucks defenceman has been suspended for a game and another was handed a hefty fine after a scrum broke out at the end of Game 3 against the Edmonton Oilers Sunday night.
Security video caught admitted serial killer disposing of bodies in Winnipeg garbage bins
Security video caught admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki on multiple late-night outings, disposing of body parts in nearby garbage bins and dumpsters in the middle of the night.
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sues for defamation over National Enquirer, InTouch Weekly stories
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sued the parent company of the National Enquirer and InTouch Weekly on Monday for a story that she said falsely claimed that she was trying to help the Menendez brothers get a retrial after they were convicted of murdering their parents.