U.S. drug overdose deaths soared almost 30% to a record 93,331 in the pandemic year of 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Deaths increased by more than 21,000 by comparison with 2019, the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics said in data published Wednesday. That means an average of 256 Americans died from overdosing every day, up from 198 the year before. Since 1999, overdose deaths have increased 450%.
The surge in overdoses came during a year that saw hundreds of thousands of Americans killed by Covid-19. It illustrates how the pandemic has worsened other medical problems -- from mental health issues triggered by isolation, to conditions that went untreated because patients delayed visiting their doctors out of fear of catching the virus. There’s also been an increase in suicide attempts.
The drug crisis has likely been exacerbated by pandemic-induced lockdowns and recession, with millions of workers losing their jobs and support services like clinics and counseling shutting down or only available online.
Opioids -- including prescription pain medicine -- caused about three-quarters of overdose deaths last year, according to the CDC.
In Pennsylvania, the number of fatal overdoses jumped from 4,505 to 5,278 - a 16.4 percent increase.
In Newtown in 2020 there thankfully were no recorded overdose deaths but there was a record 13 non-fatal overdoses and 5 uses of narcan to save lives. If the current trend continues, this record will be broken in 2021. See data here: https://www.johnmacknewtown.info/14jul21bosnotes.html
I mention this because I believe we need to provide more help to those in our community who suffer from addiction. I believe that some of the COVID Relief Fund money we have received from the federal government can be used to that end and I hope this can be discussed at the appropriate time.
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