Overdose death rate increased by 30% in 2020, a 'staggering' rise
Drug overdose death rates rose by 30% in 2020, the first year of the Covid pandemic. The opioid epidemic continues to devastate the country.
The United States saw its biggest increase ever in the rate of drug overdose deaths in the first year of the Covid pandemic, with rates rising particularly sharply among communities of color, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday.
From 2019 to 2020, the CDC said, the rate of fatal drug overdoses rose by 30% overall, from 21.6 deaths per 100,000 people in 2019 to 28.3 deaths per 100,000 in 2020. Most deaths were due to illicit fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.
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"This is the largest increase in U.S. history," said Dr. Debra Houry, CDC's acting principal deputy director and director of the agency's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. "These numbers are staggering."
The CDC report included data from 25 states and Washington, D.C.
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