The winter of freezing death

12/03/2016

Delaware has joined New York and Minnesota as the third state to report more than 10,000
deaths from freezing, hypothermia, and extreme cold related illness. The cold snap that
struck the Northeast coupled with rolling brownouts has affected more than just the infirm,
the very young, and the homeless. Healthy, grown adults are dying in their homes simply
from an inability to maintain heat.

A grueling, painful death, hypothermia slowly shuts down the whole body. Victims of
hypothermia report a burning sensation in their extremities, followed by the gradual
shutdown of the heart and respiratory system.

To combat this, the Federal government has taken over key facilities in the North, creating
"National Heating Centers," large facilities that can keep groups of people alive who might
otherwise freeze to death. Like the United Center in Chicago and The Palace in Detroit,
Madison Square Garden is one such facility. Able to host over 20,000 high-risk individuals
and run in concert with Cedar-Sinai Medical Centers, Madison Square Garden is now a
rotating home for the elderly, the infirm, and the very young.