The number of people who have died from opioid overdoses in Chatham-Kent this year is on pace to exceed last year's total and will be more in line with 2022 statistics.
Chatham-Kent Public Health Epidemiologist and Program Manager Laura Zettler told CK News Today there have been 29 suspected drug-related deaths reported in CK between January and the end of July after one suspected drug-related death was reported in June. That's compared to 28 suspected drug-related deaths in all of 2023.
"In the first six months of 2024, there were more suspect drug deaths than in all of 2023," Zettler wrote in her July report. "CK males experience nearly three times the number of opioid-related deaths as females, and nearly all deaths have been among those aged 25 to 64 years."
Zettler's July opioid surveillance report also showed eight confirmed or probable opioid poisoning deaths in CK between January and March 2024. That's compared to a total of 17 confirmed or probable opioid deaths in 2023 and 37 deaths in 2022.
"As far as suspect drug deaths overall and confirmed/probable opioid poisoning deaths in 2024, we appear to be trending higher than 2023 and more similar to what we experienced in 2022," Zettler said.
The number of opioid-related EMS calls and Emergency Department visits remained high in June and continued to be high in July. However, suspected drug deaths were fewer, Zettler's report showed.
The report also showed 19 suspected opioid-related calls to CK EMS in June to bring the total number of calls to 100 to date in 2024. Zettler said there were 75 in all of 2023. The CK Public Health report also stated CK paramedics had four non-opioid drug-related calls in June to bring that total to 41 to date in 2024. That's compared to 119 in all of 2023.
Zettler also reported 14 opioid-related Emergency Department visits in June bringing the total to 58 so far this year compared to 96 in all of last year.
She said Fentanyl "directly contributes" to nearly all accidental opioid-related deaths.
"A large portion of these suspect drug deaths overall will end up being probable and then confirmed opioid poisoning deaths," said Zettler. "In our monthly update, the number of confirmed/probable opioid toxicity deaths year to date lags by about three months, so our last update in July we were able to share confirmed/probable opioid death data available up until March 2024."
In 2022, Zettler noted there were 49 suspected drug deaths overall and 37 confirmed/probable opioid poisoning deaths that year.
CK Public Health is reminding the public that the unregulated drug supply is unpredictable and always changing.
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