The New York Times (4/14, Goodnough) reports that more than 87,000 Americans “died of drug overdoses over the 12-month period that ended in September, according to preliminary federal data, eclipsing the toll from any year since the opioid epidemic began in the 1990s.” The surge “represents an increasingly urgent public health crisis, one that has drawn less attention and fewer resources while the nation has battled the coronavirus pandemic.” The pandemic “unquestionably exacerbated the trend, which grew much worse last spring: The biggest jump in overdose deaths took place in April and May, when fear and stress were rampant, job losses were multiplying and the strictest lockdown measures were in effect.” The data were published in a Vital Statistics Rapid Release document from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
Related Links:
— “Overdose Deaths Have Surged During the Pandemic, C.D.C. Data Shows “Abby Goodnough, The New York Times, April 14, 2021