Before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, one of the biggest public health crises facing this region and the country was drug overdose deaths. Lethal, synthetic opioids mixed in with heroin and other street drugs were killing between 200 and 300 people a year in Erie County alone.
But the tide began turning in 2017. For three years in a row, the number of drug fatalities fell so that by 2019, overdose deaths were nearly half what they were three years prior, dropping from 301 to 156.
Now that trend line has been wrecked by the Covid-19 health crisis, a reminder that while many deaths are directly attributed to the new coronavirus, other people are dying as an indirect result of the drastic social changes and isolation they've endured over the past 10 months.
As of early this week, the Erie County Medical Examiner's Office reported 262 suspected and confirmed opioid-related deaths last year. Those numbers surpass the annual death totals for 2018 and 2019 and threaten to surpass the death totals for 2017.
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"That is a big threat," said Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein. "When people are home alone, we know isolation can lead to depression, feelings of hopelessness, and people will look to self-medicate to improve their mood."
Individuals already struggling with mental health issues also found themselves exponentially affected by the Covid-19 health crisis, losing access to in-person services and missing other forms of social support, said Emma Fabian, associate vice president for Evergreen Health, a Buffalo health provider that offers harm reduction services to drug users among its comprehensive services.
As early as April and May, during the first months of the pandemic when all nonessential businesses were shut down, Fabian said, Evergreen Health administrators recognized the sudden surge in overdoses.
Health leaders say the temptation to use harmful drugs while working from home, or staying home while unemployed, has been magnified by the social restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Medical examiner inspectors have walked into homes and seen white powder on the floors of professionals who were found dead and alone, Burstein said.
Ever since powerful drugs such as fentanyl started killing local residents by the hundreds in 2016, health advocates have urged people addicted to heroin, cocaine and other street drugs to use them in the presence of at least one other person equipped with a Narcan rescue kit if they aren't getting treatment.
But Covid-19 restrictions are leading more drug users to use alone.
This danger is further magnified by the fact that health officials are finding more synthetic opioid drugs being mixed in with cocaine and other stimulants.
"People think that they are using this harmless party drug," Burstein said.
Instead, they are winding up dead.
On Thursday, Burstein publicly urged residents to stay in touch with friends and family members who are known drug users.
"Please call on them," she said. "Please check on them. You know people, many times, are using because they just are so depressed. They are discouraged. They're alone."
Community health providers and the Erie County Health Department have made a number of adjustments to provide outreach to those at risk of death due to drug overdoses during this crisis:
• The county is providing virtual Narcan training sessions, and mailing free Narcan kits to anyone who successfully completes the Narcan program. Trainings can be found at www.erie.gov/opioidtrainings.
• Individuals can have Narcan delivered to them by Erie County, no questions asked, by simply texting for it at 225-5473. The information the county will request is where the Narcan should be delivered.
• The county's 24-hour addiction hotline, for anyone seeking treatment or information, continues to operate at 831-7007.
• Cellphone users can download the app "Never Use Alone" so that if they are using drugs by themselves, they can receive a callback within a certain period of time to make sure they are OK; and if they are not or don't respond, 911 will be called. Individuals can also call 1-800-484-3731 to use the service.
• The county Health Department is also providing Narcan, drug treatment information and other health information every Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. through the Live Well Erie Van, which will be parked at St. John Kanty Church, 101 Swinburne St., Buffalo. It also will be at Grant and Ferry streets on the West Side on Tuesdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. for the foreseeable future.
Other organizations have also set up their own protocols to help those at risk of overdose deaths. Narcotics Anonymous and other drug counseling organizations are holding meetings virtually.
And Evergreen Health, which operates a syringe exchange program, not only has telemedicine and socially distanced in-person assistance options, but has also created new "telehealth stations" within their downtown office at 206 S. Elmwood Ave.
These stations provide individuals without their own phone or computer a private space and office equipment to communicate remotely with a health care staffer through phone or videoconferencing.
The stations have proven very popular, Fabian said.
"That just lets people know we’ll pretty much do whatever it takes to keep your health services going," she said.
