IS COVID-19 CAUSING A NEW WAVE OF OPIOID-RELATED DEATHS?

ONE CONSEQUENCE OF the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be a spike in drug overdose rates.

reports that as of March 2020, combined fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses were nearly 20 percent higher than through the same month in 2019, according to, which collected data directly from state and local health agencies, reported in July that fatal drug overdoses were up 13 percent compared to the first half of last year.