Overdose deaths were on the wage increase again last yr . After a brief respite in 2018 , the number of deadly drug overdoses come up to record numbers in 2019 , agree to freshly release information . Even more worryingly , the new data does not take into account the Covid-19 pandemic , an changeable period thatmany experts sayis fueling more overdoses than before .
Up to 70,980 people in the US go of reported drug overdoses between December 2018 and December 2019 , consort to provisional data put out by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) last hebdomad . Since many deaths go unreported , however , they estimate that the veridical figure is closer to 71,999 deaths .
This is the gamy number of overdose deaths in a 12 - month flow since the CDC started keeping tab on the statistic in 2015 . Their figures show a slow but unfluctuating increase in fatal overdoses from 2015 to 2017 , before experiencing a slight dip in 2018 . After this appearance of advance , the increase trend has now resumed .
The trend is being repel by synthetic opioids , such as fentanyl . say to be up to100 times more potentthan morphine , fentanylis the ill-famed synthetic cousin of diacetylmorphine that has become the aspect of North America ’s opioid crisis . However , there has also been a rise in overdoses do by heroin , cocaine , methamphetamine , and synthetic opioids , such as prescription drugs like oxycodone .
Upwards of 35 state reported an step-up in the bit of fatal overdoses in 2019 , while just over a 12 proverb declines , per the new data ( splashboard below ) .
Now comes the worry of how these frame might continue to increase in the backwash of the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak . On July 8 , theAmerican Medical Association(AMA ) say it was “ greatly interested ” after compiling a vast list of national and local media account that show increases in opioid - relate overdoses since the global pandemic began earlier this twelvemonth . There is currently no conclusive evidence about why this is the instance , although most experts think it ’s a reflexion of increase social isolation , great job insecurity , and deficiency of access to support .
Richard Jorgensen , MD , the DuPage County medical examiner , explainedthere ’s recently been a " marked increment " in fateful overdoses across the US over the preceding few months . “We do not know if this is due to a change in the makeup of the drugs , drug usage on the street or due to current COVID-19 - have-to doe with change in lodge , ” he read in anAMA program line .
“ We take to reach out to the vulnerable in our society , ” he add up .
