Larrecsa Cox, right, who leads the Quick Response Team whose mission is to save every citizen who survives an overdose from the next one, talks with paramedics at an overdose call in Huntington, W.Va., Wednesday, March 17, 2021. The formation of the team helped bring down the county's overdose rate. Then the pandemic arrived, and Cox watched it undo much of their effort: overdoses shot up again, so did HIV diagnoses. "I can't believe we've lost all these people. But sometimes, you just have to focus on the living," she said.
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David Goldman / AP Photo
Larrecsa Cox, right, who leads the Quick Response Team whose mission is to save every citizen who survives an overdose from the next one, talks with paramedics at an overdose call in Huntington, W.Va., Wednesday, March 17, 2021. The formation of the team helped bring down the county's overdose rate. Then the pandemic arrived, and Cox watched it undo much of their effort: overdoses shot up again, so did HIV diagnoses. "I can't believe we've lost all these people. But sometimes, you just have to focus on the living," she said.
(Harrisburg) — Overdose deaths in Pennsylvania grew along with the national rate last year during the pandemic, according to new federal estimates.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 5,172 overdose deaths in Pennsylvania last year, a jump of 16% from 4,444 in 2019.
Nationally, the agency’s estimate of over 93,000 was a 29% increase.
The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the overdose epidemic, as lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions isolated those with drug addictions and made treatment harder to get, experts said.
The federal agency reviewed death certificates to come up with the estimate for 2020 drug overdose deaths.
Pennsylvania’s 2020 estimate for overdose deaths is still lower than the almost 5,400 overdose deaths the federal agency reported in 2017, or nearly double the amount reported in 2014.
However, last year’s increase interrupts what had been a decline, as Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration took steps to stem the flow of pharmaceutical opioids and get the overdose antidote naloxone into the hands of police, emergency-room personnel, ambulance crews and more.
In the meantime, coroners, law enforcement and state officials have reported that methamphetamine and cocaine use are on the rise while prescription drug and heroin deaths were leveling off.
Sometimes, your mornings are just too busy to catch the news beyond a headline or two. Don’t worry. The Morning Agenda has got your back. Each weekday morning, host Tim Lambert will keep you informed, amused, enlightened and up-to-date on what’s happening in central Pennsylvania and the rest of this great commonwealth.
