By Justine Calma
The COVID-19 pandemic is on the verge of colliding with another public health threat: extreme heat, which kills more people in the US each year than any other weather-related event. Public health officials usually recommend that people without air conditioning head to places like malls and libraries where they can cool off, but that’s not an option for a lot of people sheltering at home.
The problem could soon begin to affect India, where temperatures begin to climb in April and have reached as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). India’s 1.3 billion residents have been ordered to stay indoors until April 14th to stop the spread of disease, and only about 5 percent of the population has air conditioning…
