The New Orleans metro and the Northshore are under a heat advisory and will be under an extreme heat warning on Tuesday.
Have the region's hospitals seen an uptick in emergency room cases of heat-related illnesses resulting from this latest heatwave?
"Surprisingly, we are not--not yet, anyway," Dr. Peter Deblieux of LSU Health said.
According to Dr. Deblieux, part of the reason we're not seeing that uptick is because the heatwave is coming in the middle of the summer as opposed to the very beginning.
"Folks in our community have had time to acclimatize (and) to get used to the heat during the end of May, all of June, and the beginning of July," Dr. Deblieux said.
Still, Dr. Deblieux says people in South Louisiana, especially the very young and the elderly, need to take precautions when going outside, especially staying hydrated.
"If they're going to hydrate, water and cool water is going to be your best bet," Dr. Deblieux said. "You don't need Gatorade. You don't need anything else. And stay away from alcohol because that actually creates dehydration. It doesn't promote cooling."
Dr. Deblieux offered these recommendations for people who will be working outside in the extreme heat.
"First is to make sure you have access to cool places and places to have evaporative loss, so either high fans and either the ability to wipe themselves with cool cloths and allow evaporation to take place or access to shelters," Dr. Deblieux said. "Use of fans; cold showers; cool, wet towels that are applied and taken off of extremities, the head, and the neck, and then just avoid prolonged exposure to the heat."
