Record Overdose Deaths Likely Partly Driven By Pandemic Stress
New CDC data show a 29.4% increase in drug overdose deaths in 2020 versus 2019. Experts blame pandemic-driven loss of support systems, medical care inaccessibility and opioid availability. Meanwhile, a Northern Californian woman was arrested with enough fentanyl to kill 65,000 people.
Fox News:
Coronavirus-Related Stress Likely A Factor In Record Overdose Deaths, Experts Say
Overdose deaths hit a record 93,000 amid coronavirus last year due to pandemic-driven instabilities and loss of support systems, inaccess to medical care and the increasing presence of deadly synthetic opioids, top experts in addiction suspect. "It’s a horrifically tragic loss of life, particularly considering where we have been going as a country, as a world, with so many people dying," Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the NIH told Fox News. "We have all been affected by COVID in so many ways." The provisional data released by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics reflects a 29.4% increase in drug overdose deaths by December 2020, or a marked increase over the approximate 72,000 deaths recorded the year prior. (Rivas, 7/15)
AP:
For Pregnant Women, Pandemic Made Hunt For Drug Rehab Harder
After using drugs on and off for years, Megan Sims wanted to get clean again. But she couldn’t bring herself to stop during the coronavirus pandemic, even when she discovered she was going to have a baby. She had been to rehab before but couldn’t fathom how to do it while pregnant. Sims, a 28-year-old from North Carolina, was forced to confront her heroin addiction like never before when her drug use was reported to child protective services last summer. “None of my relapses had had a consequence until this last one,” she said. (Ho and Fassett, 7/15)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Bruno Police Say They Arrested Woman Who Had Enough Fentanyl To Kill 65,000 People
San Bruno police arrested a Northern California woman on suspicion of possessing narcotics for sale and seized roughly 65,000 potentially fatal doses of fentanyl, a deadly opioid, police said. Police said they contacted the Anderson (Shasta County) woman — whose name was not released — shortly after 9:30 p.m. Monday in the area of El Camino Real and Kains Avenue in San Bruno. Police said they found her with more than 4.5 ounces of fentanyl, which authorities said equates to roughly 65,000 potentially lethal doses of the drug. Two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal. (Hernandez, 7/15)
In other public health news —
Bloomberg:
CVS Pulls Sun-Care Products After Carcinogen Benzene Found - Bloomberg
CVS Health Corp. has halted the sale of two sun-care products found to contain the carcinogen benzene a day after Johnson & Johnson issued a voluntary recall of five sunscreen sprays also contaminated with the chemical. The actions by the two health-care giants came after an independent testing lab first reported finding the cancer-causing chemical in the products to regulators earlier this year. Benzene can be absorbed through the skin, inhaled or ingested, and health risks vary depending on level and duration of exposure. (Edney, 7/15)
CIDRAP:
CDC Notes Seasonal Rise In Cyclospora Cases: 208 Cases In 22 States
In a regular update on domestically acquired Cyclospora cases, which typically rise in the spring and summer, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday said 208 cases have been reported in 22 states and New York City. So far, no food items have been linked to the illnesses, but cyclosporiasis in the past has been associated with fresh produce including basil, cilantro, mesclun lettuce, raspberries, and snow peas. Earlier cases have been linked to outbreaks, such as a bagged salad event in 2020, but often cases aren't directly linked to outbreaks, because there is no validated genetic fingerprinting method for Cyclospora. (7/15)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Black Maternal Health: Pregnant Black Women Face Hurdles In Green Bay
When longtime Green Bay resident Kateesha Mitchell was pregnant with her first child, she remembers feeling pain in her lower abdomen. Her doctors insisted that the pain was normal, but Mitchell continued to advocate for a closer look. Mitchell, a Black woman who was 19 at the time, spent much of her young life battling undiagnosed chronic pain; so by the time she was pregnant with her first child, she knew exactly how to stand her ground, even when doctors claimed that her symptoms were normal for a pregnant woman. “No one would listen to me,” Mitchell, now 33, said in an interview. “But I kept being persistent.” (Phillips, 7/15)
