;Resize=(1200,627)&impolicy=perceptual&quality=mediumHigh&hash=0ecb7ca530053f2dc646bf6f066035891d51080e64bc3a7de81cd85bcef494f4 "Siesta at noon, caps for the homeless? Germany’s new heat plans")
People without their own home should again receive help from the NRW Ministry of Social Affairs in the summer months. As in the previous year, 250,000 euros will be made available for sun sails, sunscreen, drinking bottles and summer sleeping bags, as the ministry announced on Wednesday. Homeless assistance providers should receive the money.
Often no access to drinking water
“In addition to children, the elderly and pregnant women, people who live on the street suffer particularly from the high temperatures in summer,” said Health and Social Affairs Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU). They are exposed to the heat and the sun without protection and are often in poor health. “I am therefore pleased that we can support the local homeless assistance unbureaucratically again this summer.” According to the ministry, more than 100 organizations are available nationwide to purchase and distribute the aids with the money.
“Even if the amount of funding is manageable, the Ministry of Social Affairs provides quick and unbureaucratic support with the summer aid,” commented Christian Woltering, State Manager of the Parity Welfare Association in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a step in the right direction that others must follow. “A lack of places of refuge or access to drinking water – a jointly coordinated strategy must be developed between the state, municipalities and the providers of aid.”
Siesta and sunscreen
Climate change goes hand in hand with increasing health risks, emphasized the Vice Chair of the SPD parliamentary group, Lisa-Kristin Kapteinat, on Wednesday in Düsseldorf. Of the around 4,500 heat deaths nationwide that the Robert Koch Institute reported for the past year, the west was hardest hit with around 2,000 cases.
According to the SPD opposition, a “siesta” at midday and free sunscreen dispensers could also be a pragmatic answer to the increasing heat in North Rhine-Westphalia. Kapteinat suggested that the sunscreen dispensers could provide the necessary UV protection in public bathing establishments, at lakes or schools.
Model Netherlands
“The Netherlands are showing the way: old disinfectant dispensers from the Corona years have been converted into sunscreen dispensers,” explained Kapteinat. This means that new dispensers do not even have to be purchased, and everyone has access to sun protection. At the same time, working hours could be shifted to the early morning and later evening hours, as in southern Europe.
Kapteinat also advocated the nationwide construction of free drinking water wells. She criticized that there were currently only around 130 drinking water fountains in 396 communities in North Rhine-Westphalia. In Cologne and Düsseldorf, for example, there are 13 each, in Dortmund 31, in Krefeld and Wuppertal just one each. In Paris, on the other hand, they are distributed throughout the city.
Thüringer Toolbox
Thuringia is also preparing for a hot summer and wants to support the municipalities in the Free State with precautionary measures. “The number of hot days over 30 degrees Celsius has increased significantly in Thuringia. In the summer months, persistent heat is a real problem, especially for young and old people,” said Environment Minister Bernhard Stengele (Greens) on Wednesday in Erfurt. In the cities, the effect is often intensified by buildings, sealed areas and little greenery.
“Municipalities can prepare themselves. We support you with tailor-made heat protection on site. Our heat toolbox shows what the municipalities in town and country can do for people, for example through the shade of plants and trees and sun sails, more information, more cooling water cycles,” emphasized Stengele. According to the ministry, the toolbox bundles concrete options for heat protection on around 100 pages and shows financing options for preventive measures.
According to the Ministry of the Environment, May in Thuringia in particular was characterized by extreme drought. On average, only 39 percent of the expected amount of rain was registered. On the otherwise rainy Rennsteig in the ridges of the Thuringian Forest, more than 80 percent of the expected amount of rain failed to materialize. The recent showers and thunderstorms were not nearly enough to offset the deficits.
Doubling of hot days
In fact, experts have long been warning of the health consequences of heat change on the population when it comes to heat. Data from the German Weather Service (DWD) shows that the number of days with temperatures above 30 degrees has almost doubled in most German regions since 1960. This heat, in turn, is a serious health burden for people with pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes or cardiovascular problems. But pregnant women and infants are also at risk, as are people who work outdoors a lot or do sports.
According to the Federal Statistical Office on Wednesday, between 2001 and 2021, heat and sunlight in Germany caused an average of 1,500 hospital treatments a year. However, with an average of 19 deaths, heat as a direct cause of death is rare. However, high temperatures increase mortality overall because the combination of heat and previous illnesses increases the risk of death – hence the difference to the figures from the Robert Koch Institute
In recent summers, too, the number of deaths rose in weeks characterized by heat. If temperatures rise to more than 30 degrees Celsius, an above-average number of heat-related hospitalizations and deaths can be observed.
Dangerous dehydration
In 2015, around 2,300 people were hospitalized for heat. The number was 55 percent above the average for the years 2001 to 2021. In the same year there were 60 heat deaths – more than three times as many as the average for the years 2001 to 2021. In 2015 there were 17.6 heat days, which was comparatively high. In 2003, there were 2,600 hospital treatments and 41 heat-related deaths on 19 hot days.
Hospitalizations for dehydration have more than doubled in 20 years, it said. In 2021, around 107,500 people had to be hospitalized for this reason. The number of deaths from dehydration rose even more: in 2021 it was more than seven times as many as in 2001.
Around 3500 people died from it in 2021. However, the increase is partly age-related, because older people in particular are affected by dehydration. The number of older people has increased over the past 20 years.