Early preliminary data shows that opioid use was up slightly this past year in Pennsylvania.
State health officials met recently to discuss the state of opioids and found that most counties saw an increase in overdose deaths.
“Overall statewide we saw a slight increase, but we did have 45 counties see an increase in 2020 compared to 2019,” Carrie Thomas Goetz, an epidemiologist with the Department of Health’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.
The data also showed that there’s been a nearly 60 percent decline in opioid prescriptions over the past several years.
According to a press release from the Department of Health, “accidental and undetermined deaths related to any drug overdose were higher each month from January 2020 through July 2020 compared to the corresponding month in 2019. Since finalized death records for overdose deaths are often delayed by three to six months, 2020 counts are expected to increase further.”
