The Authors Respond

Abstract

Communities worldwide are learning how to protect public health during extreme heat events. Bedi et al. 1 provide an important contribution by critically examining the effectiveness of cooling centers.The regional Heat Relief Network (HRN) in Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes cooling centers, is one piece of a growing portfolio of interventions to prevent heat-associated deaths. The analysis by Bedi et al. 1 uses Maricopa County as an example and determines that over 1.6 million people would need to visit cooling centers on an extreme heat day to prevent one death. This finding contributes to their conclusion of "limited potential benefit" of cooling centers. Although the authors acknowledge important assumptions, they did not perform a calculation for high-risk individuals. As many cities will be reevaluating their heat response plans after unprecedented heat this summer, we are motivated to revisit the Bedi et al. 1 calculations based on our experience supporting the regional HRN.The focus of the Maricopa County HRN is on the most vulnerable community members-especially people experiencing homelessness. In 2022, the