While the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the Department of Health continues its fight against the opioid epidemic as well.
New data released from the DOH says opioid-related deaths were down 1.7% in Pennsylvania in 2019--a small decrease adding to a 19% total drop in accidental drug overdoses since the establishment of the Opioid Command Center in 2017.
"Amid a national pandemic, we must continue to realize that the opioid crisis has not gone away," Dr. Rachel Levine, Secretary of the Department of Health said.
York County had the sixth-most deaths by accidental opioid overdose in Pennsylvania last year with 144. Lancaster County had 104 deaths. Dauphin County had 102 deaths.
To mitigate the crisis, prescriptions for opioids have been reduced by 34% since 2017.
Officials with the Achieving Better Care by Monitoring the All Prescriptions Program (ABC-MAP), in conjunction with the Opioid Command Center and other state and federal agencies released their plan to prevent, rescue, treat and help those with addiction issues to recover and sustain that recovery.
You can find that plan here.
The COVID-19 pandemic, though, has made battling the opioid epidemic a bit harder. State officials acknowledge that hardship and they say they know the effects of COVID-19 have seen renewed opioid concerns across the board.
"We have had to make adjustments across all of our educational initiatives to make sure they can keep happening at this time," Jared Shinabery, Director of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) said.
You can find more details on the released data and future plans for the DOH and ABC-MAP here and on the DOH website.