The White House press briefing on Tuesday was briefly interrupted by a medical emergency.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stopped a reporter in the middle of his question and rushed down from the podium to assist after a person declared, “We have an emergency!”
“Hold on, did somebody pass out?” Jean-Pierre asked as White House medical staff attended to the individual, who appeared to have passed out due to the heat.
After a few minutes, Jean-Pierre returned to the podium as the person in need received medical attention.
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“Sorry about that. Hopefully she’s okay,” Jean-Pierre said. A reporter then made a comment about the heat, to which she replied, “You are correct. It is hot in here.”
Before resuming questions, Jean-Pierre asked the gathered White House correspondents if anyone needed water. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the individual’s condition.
Temperatures in Washington, D.C., hit a high of 92 degrees Tuesday but felt closer to 98 with humidity.
The sweltering temperatures are part of a heat wave impacting tens of millions of people in the Midwest and Northeast this week.
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A massive high pressure system has moved over the east coast, sending temperatures in the nation’s capital, New York City and Boston into the 90s, FOX Weather reported.
The heat is forecast to linger for the rest of the week and will increase in D.C. in the next few days, FOX 5 DC reported.
By the weekend, it is possible D.C. will issue a heat advisory as temperatures are predicted to reach 100 degrees or higher.
More than 76 million people are already included in heat alerts that stretch from Iowa in the Midwest to the Great Lakes region and Ohio Valley into the Northeast and New England, according to FOX Weather.
A majority of the population are under a heat advisory, including in cities like Davenport in Iowa; Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati in Ohio; Buffalo and Binghamton in New York; Newark in New Jersey; Providence in Rhode Island and Boston.
Heat advisories are also in place in northern New England, including Vermont, central and southern New Hampshire and central Maine.
Excessive heat warnings have been issued for Pittsburgh, Detroit and Fort Wayne in Indiana, while excessive heat watches have been issued for the Philadelphia area, western Massachusetts and central Connecticut, and for communities in New England from eastern Massachusetts to southern Maine.
Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston and Caribou, Maine baked Tuesday with temperatures ranging from the high 80s to the 90s. New York City Mayor Eric Adams advised residents to seek cooling centers open throughout the city to “beat the heat.”
FOX Weather’s Steven Yablonski contributed to this report.
