My morning drive is once again filled with news snippets about the number of people found dead in their homes, notably from the heat wave, but more likely from ignorance.
Man found dead, windows shut, fans off and of course, A/C off.
Now, the window thing is such a common mistake. I’ve seen news pieces where they visit people in a heat wave who are just sitting in the house with the windows shut, often with just a fan. Okay, your ignorant - you have the windows shut - but no so ignorant as to deny yourself a fan. Hey, don’t tell me they ain’t ignorant. After a doc or fire rescue worker advises them of how to stay cool, they disregard the advice. People believe they are shutting out the hot air, and it’s widely believed!
But the ‘no fan people’ take stupidity to another level.
First, we have to get over the ‘no A/C people’…the people who have it, but don’t use it. OK…you can say they can’t afford it. Maybe they can’t - I can see that. Maybe they can afford it, but don’t realize it. Maybe they don’t know that to run AC could be just 1-4 bucks a day. Maybe if the ran it during the worst part of the worst days it’ll cost just a few dollars. BUT, I can see that some people would still be afraid to use it. Fine.
Now, we have the ‘no windows people’. This is almost at the uran legend level: If you keep your windows open in a heat wave, you’ll just let hot air in your house’. I just know so many people that think this way.
And lastly, we have the ‘no fan people’. Locked in, no AC on and windows shut, they deny themselves a fan. It’s sitting right there - but they don’t use it!
I want to smack people around!
Please fight ignorance and let the misguided know all the facts.
It is okay to run the AC in the short term/worst part of the day, if you can afford 10 - 20 bucks (heat waves last a week). Heck, maybe just the worst part of the 1-2 worst days for 5-10 bucks!
If not, open the window and turn on the fan(s)!!
It is the BEST thing to do. Take a cold shower, visit a store or theatre, or a local community center!