Opioid Deaths Spiked in Chicago’s Home County While a Stay-at-Home Order Was in Effect
THE AVERAGE NUMBER of individuals dying of opioid overdoses within the Illinois county that's home to Chicago increased by quite 20% last year while state residents were told to remain reception to curb the spread of COVID-19, consistent with a replacement analysis.
In the report, published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers from Northwestern University and therefore the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office examined opioid overdose deaths in reference to a state stay-at-home order that took effect in Illinois in March 21, 2020. The analysis encompassed a subsequent, modified order enacted May Day.
Over approximately two years before the pandemic, or the weeks between Jan. 1, 2018, and Dec. 14, 2019, about 23 people on average died per week of an opioid overdose in Cook County, consistent with the analysis. That number increased to 35.1 deaths per week in subsequent weeks leading up to the initial stay-at-home order.
But while state residents were under such an order – from late March through May 30, 2020 – the weekly average of fatal opioid overdoses increased by about 24% to approximately 43.4 per week. Afterward and into early October, consistent with the analysis, average weekly deaths dropped to 31.2.
"Whether the observed increase during the stay-at-home order was a continuation of increases begun within the ... weeks before the stay-at-home order or a spike temporally related to the stay-at-home order is unclear," researchers said. But they noted that the typical number of deaths still stayed above pre-2020 levels "after the order was lifted."
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"This is concerning because it'd indicate an overall persistent upward trend in overdose deaths as reported by CDC, using nationwide data, for the half-moon of 2019," researchers said.
In December, the CDC said early data suggests that while drug overdose deaths were increasing before the pandemic, they began to accelerate during it. Meanwhile, a separate study published in December found that the general rate of overdose-related cardiac arrests in 2020 through Aug. 1 was approximately 50% above the typical trend observed for 2018 and 2019.
In Thursday's report, researchers noted the pandemic led to interruptions within the illicit drug supply, placing opioid users at an increased risk of overdose, particularly as their tolerance may have dropped or they'll have used more powerful, substitutionary drugs like fentanyl. Additionally, treatment and recovery services were disrupted by the pandemic, and users under a stay-at-home order may are less likely to be around somebody else who could get help if they overdosed.
The study's lead author, Maryann Mason – a professor of medicine at Northwestern and PI for the Statewide Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System in Illinois – says she believes the findings could also be applicable beyond just Cook County, given these widespread factors.
If stay-at-home orders got to be implemented, she says, it is vital to supply help to those most in danger, like people that are housing insecure or uninsured, or who may lack internet access which will help them maintain support-group connections. Expanded distribution of the overdose-reversing medication naloxone also "should include instructions on the likelihood more naloxone could also be needed for overdose reversal thanks to the utilization of stronger drugs," she says.
"These findings shouldn't necessarily be wont to determine whether or not a stay-at-home order is issued but rather what stopgap measures are often put in situ if a stay-at-home order has got to be made," Mason says.
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