Heatwave alert: middle-aged Torontonians most at risk, Ontario health officials warn

Ontario Public Health is warning that adults in their 40s and 50s are now the demographic most likely to be hospitalised with heat stroke during the city's extended heatwave.

Public health officials in Ontario have issued an unusually pointed warning ahead of the weekend, saying middle-aged Torontonians — not the elderly — are the group most at risk of being hospitalised during the city's ongoing heatwave.

Temperatures in the GTA are forecast to hit 36°C on Saturday, with humidex values pushing the perceived temperature above 42°C. Public Health Ontario said admissions for heat-related illness so far this summer have skewed sharply toward adults aged 45 to 60.

Doctors point to a combination of factors: this cohort is more likely to still be in physically demanding jobs, less likely to live in air-conditioned homes than their parents' generation, and statistically less likely to report symptoms early.

“People in their fifties tend to push through it,” one Toronto General emergency consultant said. “By the time they come in, they are already in serious trouble.”

The City of Toronto has opened cooling centres at all 100 of its public libraries, and TTC stations across downtown will remain open as informal cooling spaces during peak afternoon hours.

Residents are urged to check on neighbours — particularly anyone living alone — and to limit non-essential outdoor activity between 11am and 4pm.