Number of deaths caused by cold weather falls despite big freeze
According to this article: “The number of deaths linked to cold weather fell slightly last winter despite the big freeze, provisional figures showed today. There were an estimated 25,700 excess deaths inEnglandandWalesin winter 2010/11 – 110 fewer than the winter before.”
This is good news. I don’t think for one minute it means the challenge of fuel poverty has gone away especially for the lone and vulnerable rural elderly but I would be fascinated to hear more about what factors are attributed to the fall in deaths – particularly in view of the depth of the freeze last winter. I wonder if in some perverse way it led to more neighbourliness and mutual support for those in the coldest homes from within their communities?