21 people have died of cold so far this season in Cook County

CHICAGO - Two more cold-related deaths were reported in Cook County, bringing the season’s total to 21, according to the medical examiner’s office.

A 71-year-old woman died in November in West Pullman on the Far South Side.

Someone flagged down officers about 11:10 a.m. Nov. 15 in the 11800 block of South Yale Avenue, Chicago police said. Officers found the woman unresponsive inside a home, and she was pronounced dead on the scene.

She died as a result of cold exposure with hypertensive arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease as a contributing factor, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Her death was ruled an accident.

Last month, a 47-year-old man died in Garfield Park on the West Side.

Officers responded about 12:07 a.m. Dec. 17 for a call of a person unresponsive in an alley, police said. The man was lying face-up and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

He died as a result of combined drug toxicity with cold exposure as a contributing factor, the medical examiner’s office said. His death was ruled an accident.

The first confirmed cold-related death of the season happened Nov. 1 in Avondale.

Last season, 60 people in Cook County died of cold-related causes.