PA, National Drug Overdose Deaths Up Significantly In 2020: CDC

PENNSYLVANIA — The number of drug overdose deaths in Pennsylvania - and nationally - jumped dramatically last year, according to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. However, the state had one of the nation's smallest percentage of overdose increases compared to other states.

Preliminary numbers indicate there were 93,331 reported overdose nationwide deaths in 2020, the largest number ever recorded and a 29.4 percent increase over 2019. Those numbers will be finalized later this year.

"This is the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period, and the largest increase since at least 1999," Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, said in a statement to CNN.

"These data are chilling. The COVID-19 pandemic created a devastating collision of health crises in America."

In Pennsylvania, the number of fatal overdoses jumped from 4,505 to 5,278 - a 16.4 percent increase. While that number is significant, the state had the country's 13th lowest percentage increase. Only two states reported a decrease, New Hampshire and South Dakota.

The states with the highest percentage increases:

1. Vermont 57.6

2. West Virginia, 55.6

3. Kentucky, 53.7

4. South Carolina, 52.8

5. Louisiana, 47.6

6. Tennessee, 44.6

7, California, 43.7

8. Nebraska, 43. 2

9. Arkansas, 42.3

10. Wyoming, 40.3

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the increases can be attributed to overdose deaths from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl; psycho-stimulants such as methamphetamine; cocaine and natural and semi-synthetic opioids such as prescription pain medication.

Overdose deaths compounded what was already a tragic year for the United States. By year’s end, more than 375,000 people had died from COVID-19, according to a New York Times database, the largest American mortality event in a century.

In total, the 93,000 deaths cost Americans about 3.5 million years of life, according to a Times analysis. By comparison, coronavirus deaths in 2020 were responsible for about 5.5 million years of life.

Full data on 2020 overdose deaths can be found on the National Center for Health Statistics’ website.

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