Season's cold-related death count rises to 31
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CHICAGO - The Cook County medical examiner's office has confirmed three more deaths related to cold weather, bringing the season’s count to 31.
The three deaths happened as early as December 2019, but their autopsy results were announced Friday. The deaths happened in Beverly, Bronzeville and Lincoln Park.
All were found outside, Chicago police said.
On Feb. 8, a 91-year-old died of hypothermia after she was found unresponsive on a sidewalk in Beverly on the Far South Side.
She was taken by paramedics from the 9500 block of South Winchester Avenue to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she died, the medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy found she died of hypothermia due to cold exposure, with heart disease and dementia as contributing factors.
On Jan. 18, a 51-year-old man was found unresponsive in an alley in the 4700 block of Evans Avenue in Bronzeville, authorities said.
He died of a heroin and fentanyl overdose, with the cold contributing, at the University of Chicago Medical Center, an autopsy found.
The earliest death happened Dec. 28, 2019, when a 61-year-old man was found lying on the ground in Lincoln Park.
He was pronounced dead in the 2700 block of North Clybourn Avenue, authorities said. An autopsy found he died of cold exposure with alcohol intoxication as a contributing factor.
Last season, 60 cold-related deaths were reported in Cook County between Sept. 14, 2018, and May 23, 2019.