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NEW YORK — <\/span>One man was discovered under a layer of snow on a park bench in Queens. Another was found just steps from a Manhattan hospital. Yet another was pronounced dead on the ground beneath an elevated train line in the Bronx.<\/p>\n Each is among a growing number of people \u2014 at least 10, as of Tuesday \u2014 who died after being exposed to the bitter cold that has persisted in New York City since late last Friday.<\/p>\n Their causes of death are still under investigation, but some showed signs of having succumbed to hypothermia. Officials said several victims were believed to have been living on the streets. At least six of the fatalities came early Saturday, as the temperature in the city fell to 9 degrees (minus 13 degrees Celsius).<\/p>\n With the frigid weather expected to continue, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city was adding additional homeless outreach workers, opening new warming centers and instructing hospitals to limit discharges \u201cto ensure that people who have nowhere to go are kept indoors.\u201d<\/p>\n But the rising death toll has also prompted questions about whether Mamdani\u2019s nascent administration<\/a> could have done more to protect the city\u2019s most vulnerable residents ahead of the Arctic blast and the snowstorm that hit early Sunday.<\/p>\n One of the victims, a 52-year-old man living in Queens, was found Sunday morning with discharge papers in his pocket showing he had been released from Elmhurst Hospital, a city-run facility, on Friday, according to State Senator Jessica Ramos.<\/p>\n By the time of his release, the city had already activated its Code Blue protocols, a set of extreme weather policies that include precautions meant to ensure homeless patients are not released back onto the street.<\/p>\n It was not immediately clear if the man, who is originally from Ecuador, had been living outside at the time of his death. Inquiries to City Hall, the Department of Homeless Services and the city\u2019s public hospital system were not returned.<\/p>\n The city has yet to release the names of any of those who died during the storm.<\/p>\n