Heat-Related Illness Surveillance

This dashboard is updated on weekdays (Monday – Friday) in July and August, and weekly on Mondays in May, June, and September.

Data sets for the HRI dashboard are available for download through the Virginia Open Data Portal.

Complete a quick survey to share your experience using heat-related illness data.

 

About the Data

VDH collects and analyzes health data from participating EDs and urgent care centers in Virginia. All non-federal acute care hospitals and free-standing emergency care centers report ED visit data to VDH. Urgent care reporting varies throughout the state.

Data are for clinical care of patients in healthcare settings. Public health surveillance is a secondary use. When interpreting HRI data, please consider syndromic surveillance data limitations.

  • Case definition: Heat related illness visits were identified using this guidance document from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists.
  • Measures: ED visit counts and rates per 10,000 ED visits. Rates allow comparison over time and between different groups, such as age, race, sex, and geographic areas.
  • Geography: VDH assigns city/county and health district using the patient’s residential zip code. The HRI data dashboard includes ED and urgent care visit data for Virginia and non-Virginia residents. Out of state residents are not represented in the map. Visit counts and rates are combined for certain cities and counties due to some zip codes spanning more than one locality.
  • Suppression: In the current year, VDH suppresses counts of 1 to 4 and rates with numerators of 1 to 4 to maintain confidentiality and accurate rate calculations. Suppressed statistics are indicated with an asterisk (*). Data for past years are not suppressed.
  • Demographics: VDH reports firearm injury data using the following combined race/ethnicity categories:
    • Asian or Pacific Islander – Non-Hispanic persons who identify as “Asian” or “Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander”
    • Black or African American – Non-Hispanic persons who identify as “Black or African American”
    • Latino – Individuals of any race who identify as “Hispanic or Latino”
    • Native American – Non-Hispanic persons who identify as “American Indian or Alaska Native”
    • White – Non-Hispanic persons who identify as “White” alone
    • Other Race – Non-Hispanic persons who report “Other Race” alone

Heat-Related Illness Surveillance Reports

2021

The Enhanced Surveillance team identified and monitored one heat-related illness event so far between April 1 to September 30, 2021. The heat related illness event occurred June 28-30. The summary report can be found below.

June 28 – 30 2021 Summary


2020

The Enhanced Surveillance team identified and monitored one heat-related illness event between April 1 to September 30, 2020. The heat related illness event occurred July 17-30. The individual summary reports can be found below.

July 17-19 2020 Summary

July 17-21 2020 Summary

July 17-23 2020 Summary

July 17-27 2020 Summary

July 17-30 2020 Summary


2019

The Enhanced Surveillance team identified and monitored one heat-related illness event between April 1 to September 30, 2019. The heat related illness event occurred July 16-22. The individual summary reports can be found below.

July 16 2019 Summary

July 17 2019 Summary

July 18 2019 Summary

July 19-21 2019 Summary

July 16-22 2019 Summary


2018

The Enhanced Surveillance team identified and monitored one heat-related illness event between April 1 to September 30, 2018. The individual summary report can be found below.

June 18-19 2018 Summary


2017

Between April 1 to September 1, 2017, the Enhanced Surveillance team identified and monitored four heat-related illness events. The four heat-related illness events occurred on June 12-13, July 12-13, July 20-22,and August 16-18. Individual summary reports for these events can be found below.

June 12-13 2017 Summary

July 12-13 2017 Summary

July 20-22 2017 Summary

August 16-18 2017 Summary

For more information on preventing heat-related illness visit the Extreme Heat and Heat-Related Illnesses page.