Drug overdose killed 71,000 Americans in 2019 and Covid-19 may make it a lot worse this year, fear experts
The drug overdose epidemic is reported to have killed close to 71,000 Americans in 2019, creating a new record, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And some experts are worried that the Covid-19 pandemic could worsen the crisis.
The data was analyzed and released by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which provides statistics for decisions on public health. They found that in 2019, the number of deaths jumped 4.8% from 2018's estimate. "It seems that 2019 is the new high for drug overdose deaths," said Bob Anderson, chief of mortality statistics at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. "Data are still provisional at this point, but the increase in the last few months of 2019 was steep enough to push it over the top by a little more than two hundred deaths."
Of the 50 states, more than 30 have witnessed an increase in overdose deaths. Of them, the number of reported deaths in South Dakota jumped to 88 in December 2019, from 57 in the same period in 2018. Standing second was North Dakota with a 28.6% rise. Regions showing a decline include Michigan, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nevada, and Utah.
Drugs such as heroin, cocaine, morphine, codeine, oxycodone, oxymorphone, methadone, fentanyl, and methamphetamine are responsible for overdose-related deaths. Of them, CDC's Anderson said illegal fentanyl drove the 2019 spike. "A substantial portion of those are combination drugs, where fentanyl is being mixed with meth or cocaine,” he added. The concoction of different drugs could be fatal, and they have been climbing in the eastern states.
"We are very concerned,” said Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “We’re trying to make a conscious effort not to lose sight of some of these other things that had been vexing problems before the coronavirus and for certain have gotten way worse during the pandemic," he told Politico. The concern is that anxiety and other disorders could lead to a spike in people taking to drugs.
Calling it a disturbing trend, Brett Giroir, the administration’s assistant secretary for health, said in a statement, “We understand that there is an extraordinary amount of work to do, especially now as we are also dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic that could markedly affect our nation's mental health and risk of substance use.”
Others suspect that the pandemic may have reduced the supply of drugs due to disrupted movements. However, they add there is not enough information to know the impacts. “It’s indicative the drug trafficking organizations had a plentiful supply, to begin with, and there’s some thought they are artificially driving prices up,” Patrick Trainor, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Philadelphia told The New York Times. "But as to whether overdoses are increasing because of the pandemic, Trainor said, “Nobody has hard data yet; they just don’t," he added.