Statewide drug overdose deaths spiked in 2020
Isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in drug overdose deaths across the state last year, and the trend appears to be repeating itself this year.
Ray Barishansky, a deputy secretary at the state Health Department, said there were 422 more overdose deaths last year than there were in 2019. The numbers had been dropping since the peak year of 2017 when there were 5,300 such deaths.
“We are seeing a different picture,” Barishansky said Thursday during a virtual press conference.
“We look at this as the crisis it is,” he said.
Last year, 4,880 people died from drug overdoses in Pennsylvania and that number is expected to increase as toxicology reports are filed.
The stay-at-home order last year and other COVID-19-related restrictions offset efforts by social service agencies to help addicts get into recovery programs.
“We must push forward,” said Jen Smith, secretary of the state’s drug and alcohol programs.
The trend appears to be playing out in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties.
An influx of a deadly batch of fentanyl-laced cocaine resulted in some of the 33 deaths by late March, and that number has risen to 44, according to the Washington County coroner’s office. As of May 2020, there were 30 drug overdose deaths in the county.
Washington County saw 103 drug overdose deaths last year, a number that increased from 76 in 2019.
There were four drug overdose deaths in the first five weeks of this year in Greene County, its coroner, Gene Rush, said. There have been no new overdose deaths since Feb. 7.
“It’s kind of calmed down,” Rush said.
Fayette County recorded a dozen drug overdose deaths in January, a number that increased by nine when compared to January 2020, the county coroner’s office said. Figures for 2020 in Fayette were unavailable.
A statewide hotline at 1-800-662-HELP has been established to help people with addiction issues.
Staff writer Mike Jones contributed to this story.