New data from around the U.S. confirms that drug overdoses are spiking during the coronavirus pandemic, rising by roughly 18%.
Reports collected in real time by the Washington, D.C.-based group ODMAP — the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program, located at the University of Baltimore — also found a significant spike in the number of fatal overdoses.
“Overdose clusters have shifted from traditional centralized urban locations to adjacent and surrounding suburban and rural areas,” said ODMAP program manager Aliese Alter.
The organization compared reported overdoses, fatal and nonfatal, in the weeks leading up to coronavirus quarantine measures and in the weeks after.
In all, more than 60% of counties participating in the information-gathering project reported increases in drug overdoses, with some communities seeing deadly surges in the number of people needing help.