One dead, 15 injured in Brooklyn Half Marathon, media blame weather

Sixteen people were taken to the hospital Saturday after running the Brooklyn Half Marathon, including four runners who collapsed and a 30-year-old runner who died of cardiac arrest. 

While New York City's Office of Chief Medical Examiner has said that it will announce the cause of death in the coming days, the media have determined the weather to be the culprit.  

“During the marathon, temperatures ranged from the low 60s to the high 70s Fahrenheit, the organization said. The relative humidity in the city during the first couple hours of the race was between 96% and 97%, according to the National Weather Service,” said CNN. 

“The race, which took the 22,000 runners from the Brooklyn Museum through Prospect Park to the Coney Island boardwalk, was held under unseasonably warm conditions,” reported the New York Post. “The temperature at 9 a.m. at Coney Island was already 70 degrees with 83% humidity, according to Fox Weather.” 

“The 13.1-mile race returned in-person for the first time since the start of the pandemic, with the threat of a 90-degree scorcher looming over the runners,” reported NBC. 

“A runner in the RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon died Saturday morning, and five other people were taken to the hospital, as potentially record-setting temperatures hit New York City,” tweeted the New York Times. “Organizers had warned participants of potential heat concerns.” 

But not everyone is blaming the weather. 

Some are pointing out that cardiac complications – particularly in young men – are hallmarks of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Most recently, an MIT study found that the advent of the COVID-19 vaccine saw a 25% increase in cardiovascular events.   

The vaccine also disproportionately affects athletes. 2021 alone saw a five-fold increase in sudden cardiac and unexplained deaths among FIFA athletes, and some clinics have recently started requiring extra tests for vaccinated athletes. 

One Romanian professional football team went so far as to ban vaccinated players due to a prevalent difficulty in completing strenuous exercise. 

Notably, only the fully vaccinated were permitted to participate.

“We require adults taking part in any 2022 events and programs to attest to full vaccination against COVID-19. This policy took effect with the NYRR Midnight Run on December 31, 2021,” said the New York Road Runners website.

“From the headline, I thought it was another terrorist attack like the Boston marathon,” wrote one user on social media. “Nope. Just 16 individual incidents of medical emergencies. One dead. Four in serious condition. 15 hospitalized. Totally normal.” 

“16 injured or dead in one (Brooklyn Half Marathon) race—why? No reason given in the story. Follow this up, people,” tweeted Wikipedia Co-Founder Larry Sanger. 

“I wonder what the ‘requirements’ were for runners to take part in the Brooklyn Half Marathon? Yes, interesting turn of events...who could have predicted it...” wrote Dr. James Olsson. 

“1 dead marathoner and 15 ‘injured’ due to… 70 degree weather? Nice try, CNN. This isn’t normal.” 

“1 death and 20 in hospital are these the normal statistics for a marathon? are we turning a blind eye?" 

“Cardiac arrest at 30 yo. Totally normal. I’m sure it had nothing to do with his vaccination status.” 

“Who else thinks that it’s not normal that 30 yr old runners are dropping dead. ‘Brooklyn Half Marathon runner dies after collapsing at finish line amid brutal weather conditions’(FoxNews).” 

“Age of marathon runner who died of cardiac arrest has been released. He was just 32. Prior to last year, it was out of shape 50+ year olds that this happened to.” 

“Totally normal medical emergencies during half marathon. One dead, 15 hospitalized. They will blame this on climate change.” 

“Runner dies at Brooklyn Half Marathon finish line possibly suffered cardiac arrest in addition to at least 15 others who also collapsed and suffered distress. Of course this was due to heat and not the vaccine. Let’s see how the marathon season fares.” 

“Okay, granted it was hot here today, but a 30-year-old man collapsed and died in Coney Island during a half-marathon. What are the chances he had a certain medical procedure that was in many cases mandated?” 

“This is never happened before at the Brooklyn half marathon. I've done it at least a half a dozen times these are people who are in top flight physical condition. Just wondering how many of these injured were jabbed.”