ASHLAND — Drug overdose deaths in Ohio skyrocketed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The preliminary data spanned from March 2020 to March 2021, a period that involved shutdowns as officials everywhere scrambled to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.
In those 12 months, the U.S. saw 96,779 reported drug overdose deaths, an increase of 29.6% from March 2020 to March 2021. Ohio saw 5,491 deaths during the same period, a 26.3% increase.
The numbers released Wednesday are provisional data, as drug overdose deaths require “lengthy investigation” to be recorded, according to the CDC.
“Assuming that number is correct, I believe that is the largest number we’ve seen in Ohio in terms of overdose deaths,” said David Ross, executive director for Ashland County’s Mental Health and Recovery Board.
Ross said Ohio’s overdose death numbers broke a record in 2020, when they reached 5,018.
Only three states saw their numbers decrease during the same time period: New Hampshire, New Jersey and South Dakota.
Vermont had the largest increase of any state. Reported overdose deaths rose 85.1% from March 2020 to March 2021.
The CDC broke down its data by drug class. Opioids accounted for the highest number of overdose deaths, followed by synthetic opioids. Methadone, which treats moderate to severe pain and is often used as a treatment to narcotic drug addiction, saw the lowest number of overdose deaths.
Ross said the numbers are heartbreaking but not surprising.
He said the isolation from shutdowns through the pandemic made recovering from drug addictions more challenging.
“The pandemic exacerbated pre-existing ‘vulnerabilities’ of persons in recovery,” he said. “It made human-to-human support and contact more challenging. In-person Alcoholic Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups were much hard to access. Virtual groups helped many but not all.”
But the pandemic was only one factor, he said. The supply of drugs have become more dangerous with an influx of fentanyl — which he said can be found in cocaine, crack, heroin and marijuana.
“Fentanyl is just so deadly in small quantities, so it’s not uncommon to inadvertently overdose and die,” Ross said.
But the reason for overdose deaths is complicated, he said, and collecting numbers specific to Ashland County is “fuzzy.”
He said an Ashland County resident could overdose and die in Richland County and not count as an Ashland County death because of the way those deaths are recorded.
That’s why the Mental Health and Recovery Board has agreed to partner with the Ashland County Health Department in establishing an opioid fatality review committee.
The committee, required by state law, will also analyze suicide deaths in Ashland County on a yearly basis using coroner data, death certificates and records from Ohio Department of Health, said Vickie Taylor, health commissioner of the Ashland County Health Department.
The committee will be made up of Taylor, Ross, a physician and Taylor said the committee can invite a representative from law enforcement and the coroner — along with others if approved by the majority of the committee.
Taylor said the review committee is still collecting data for 2021 suicide and overdose deaths.
“We will be supplying Ohio Department of Health a report in April to our findings,” Taylor said in an email. “This is a new task and one that we hope will reveal some measure that the community can take in reducing the number of deaths.”
The MHRB has also recently increased access to Naloxone, also known as NARCAN, a drug used to revive someone who has just overdosed. Ross said the drug is now available at the Ashland County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, the Ashland County Health Department and the Appleseed Community Mental Health Center.
Ross said the board has also ramped up educational efforts, launching podcast and video series aimed at different age groups and continues its promotion of Drug Take Back days with local law enforcement agencies.
