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Safety is top of mind: How officials are balancing heat danger, COVID-19 at cooling centers

By Maria Heeter and Daniel Hunt

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With an extreme heat wave bringing punishing temperatures to the capital region through Tuesday, cooling centers opened Friday in the Sacramento area to help residents seek refuge.

The centers in Sacramento and Yolo counties are open each day through Wednesday. In Placer County, officials in Roseville will open the Tower Theatre to help people stay cool starting Saturday.

At the Hagginwood Community Center on Friday morning, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said that more centers could open if needed. He called the centers “the right thing to do,” even though nightly temperatures do not requiring them to open under the city’s guidelines, and many spaces have had to close to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“The homeless population suffers enough. The people already have a hard enough time,” Steinberg said. “And frankly, regardless of what the rule is, when the weather is 106, 107, 108 degrees in the middle of the day people’s lives are at risk.”

Steinberg was joined by Daniel Bowers, director of Sacramento’s city Office of Emergency Management, and Councilman Allen Warren, who represents North Sacramento.

“We’ll continue this effort as long as the forecast requires. We have outstanding support from our elected and city executive leadership, and we’re ready to serve the community,” Bowers said.

Due to impacts caused by the pandemic, cool spaces that the public normally uses to escape the heat, such as community centers, libraries and other public spaces with air conditioning have been closed since March.

Coronavirus precautions

At Hagginwood, chairs were scattered 6 feet apart in a large auditorium Friday afternoon, with a temperature check required to enter. The center provides participants with masks, which are required, snacks, water and air conditioning. At some centers, including Hagginwood, WiFi is available.

Sites will follow the guidelines set out by the California Department of Public Health due to the pandemic and masks will be required, officials said.

The guidelines are similar to those issued for businesses: individual temperature and symptom screenings will take place, cleaning and disinfecting protocols be followed, and continued adherence to physical distancing will be enforced, “in addition to addressing all language and cultural barriers,” said Sacramento County spokeswoman Janna Haynes.

There is a maximum occupancy limit that varies at each center, though families are able to stay together in a close setting. If occupancy begins to be pushed, Steinberg said more centers may open.

“The obligation is both to bring people inside and at the same time keep people safe,” he said. “We’re going to make sure we can do everything we can, as a city and as a county, to allow as many people indoors and out of the heat as we can.”

“That should provide hundreds of people with some real respite. And I’m grateful to the city and the county for stepping up and doing the right thing,” Steinberg said.

Cooling centers in Roseville have historically been at the city’s library, which has been closed since March. Instead, the city decided to open the city-owned Tower Theatre downtown, where officials hoped it would be most accessible to residents, said city spokeswoman Pam Allen.

“We have people either experiencing homelessness, or have homes that don’t have air conditioning, or the air conditioning is broken. So we wanted to provide a place that people could take the opportunity to cool off for a period of time,” Allen said.

Temperatures will be well into the 100s and could approach 111 degrees multiple days between Friday and next Wednesday in the Sacramento Valley, according to the National Weather Service’s excessive heat warning.

“It’s not unusual to see these warm temperatures in August, but we are looking at the potential for breaking some records,” NWS meteorologist Cory Mueller said. “Drink water, even when you’re not thirsty.”

The following centers are open each day through Wednesday unless noted:

This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 2:14 PM.

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