(WRTV/AP) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data about overdose deaths in 2020, and Indiana's numbers are higher than the national average.
The CDC report says there were 1,704 overdose deaths in 2019 and 2,268 deaths in 2020, a 33.1% increase. That's all from the available data; the CDC says there was underreporting and incomplete data from Indiana.
Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government estimatereleased Wednesday eclipses the 72,000 drug overdose deaths in 2019, a change of 29.4%.
Provisional drug overdose death counts are based on death records received and processed by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
Experts say lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions isolated those with drug addictions and made treatment harder to get.
Prescription painkillers once drove the opioid epidemic in the U.S. But now it is fentanyl, a dangerously powerful opioid.
Overdose deaths in 2020 are just one facet of what was overall the deadliest year in U.S. history, with about 378,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
