Several people were taken to hospitals after attending Saturday’s NFL wildcard playoff game in Kansas City between the Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins in dangerously cold temperatures.
Temperatures were minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit at kickoff Saturday evening, with a windchill of minus 27 F, making it one of the coldest games played in NFL history, according to the Chiefs Communication Department.
A Kansas City Fire Department (KCFD) spokesperson told ABC News that the agency received 69 calls from both inside Arrowhead Stadium and from the parking lot, with half of them hypothermia-related.
“We set up four field aid stations throughout the parking lot and…either someone flagged us down or we were sent by our operations to locate those individuals in their seats,” the spokesperson said.
KCFD said some patients were evaluated and treated on-site, while 15 people were taken to hospitals in the area with at least seven treated for hypothermia symptoms and three for frostbite symptoms.
According to local ABC News affiliate KMBC, the number of hospitalizations does not include people who were walk-ins at various University of Kansas Heath System locations, or who visited first aid stations at Arrowhead manned by EMTs and hospital staff.
A University of Kansas Health System spokesperson told ABC News that their staff is still collecting numbers on those who visited aid stations, or who visited the ER and burn unit for frostbite.
Hypothermia is caused by prolonged exposure to extremely cold temperatures. The body begins to lose heat faster than it is produced, resulting in a lower than normal body temperature, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Warning signs include shivering, tiredness, confusion, drowsiness, memory loss, slurred speech, and fumbling hands, according to the federal health agency.
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