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The worst of the deaths coincide with the closures and other measures taken to control the pandemic, the CDC said in a health alert.
Data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) indicates that approximately 81,230 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States during this period.
“This represents a worsening of the drug overdose epidemic in the United States and is the highest number of drug overdoses in a 12-month period on record,” according to the CDC alert.
The most common are overdoses of synthetic opioids such as illicitly manufactured fentanyl. But there is also an increase in deaths from drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine, the CDC added.
And the numbers look grim. “The 12-month tally of synthetic opioid deaths increased 38.4% from the 12 months ending June 2019 compared to the 12 months ending May 2020,” the CDC said.
He noted a 98% increase in synthetic opioid deaths in 10 western states, coinciding with greater availability of these drugs in this region. “After dropping 4.1% from 2017 to 2018, the number of overdose deaths increased by 18.2% between the 12 months ending in June 2019 and the 12 months ending in May 2020,” he said. -he adds.
The agency says people should be made aware of the risks of using drugs alone.
“These new provisional data on fatal overdoses, associated with known disruptions to public health, healthcare and social services due to the Covid-19 pandemic and associated mitigation measures, highlight the need to keep essential services accessible to those most at risk of overdose and the need to expand prevention and response activities, ”the agency added.
Recommendations also include the expansion of the use of naloxone, overdose. The expansion of sites where overdose prevention education and take-home naloxone are provided, especially in rural areas, is important, the CDC said.
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