The Cook County Sheriff's Office believes there might be a link between opioid overdose deaths and COVID-19. | Cook County Sheriff's Office
The Cook County Sheriff's Office believes there might be a link between opioid overdose deaths and COVID-19. | Cook County Sheriff's Office
It seems likely that the COVID-19 epidemic is fueling a parallel spike in opioid overdose deaths in Illinois, the Cook County Sheriff's Officer said in July.
“I consider it a public health emergency,” Cook County Police Sgt. Efrain Mata told WGN9 for a July 27 report. “Our officers are on the front lines.”
The WGN9 report said this year there have been 810 opioid deaths reported by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and with 600 autopsies still to be done, the total could be much higher. Approximately 80% of the autopsies will likely be ruled opioid-related, the report said.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart
| Courtesy Photo
This contrasts with 1,267 deaths for the entire year last year and 1,148 in 2018.
The number is almost double over last year. Officers responded to 70 overdose calls compared to 40 during the same period in 2019, WGN9 reported. Narcan, a drug to reduce the effects of opioid overdose, has been used in 28 cases this year compared to five last year.
Though Mata did not name COVID-19 as the culprit, he did say isolation, economic stress and the difficulty of obtaining mental health services were causing the rise in opioid deaths.
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