In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic’s ravaging toll through society, one plague hasn’t gone away. 

In fact, it may have gotten worse.

Our nation was in the grip of an opioid crisis before the novel coronavirus brought our way of life to a halt. It went unnoticed as the priorities shifted to combatting COVID-19.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fatal drug overdoses in the country were on the rise before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics showed there were approximately 81,230 drug overdose deaths from June 2019 to May 2020. According to the NCHS, it was the largest number of drug overdoses ever recorded for a 12-month period.

The primary driver for the increase in drug overdose deaths, the CDC said, was synthetic opioids. More than 70% of overdose deaths involved opioids, and nearly 73% of those deaths stemmed from synthetic opioids.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that more than 130 people die each day in the U.S. after overdosing on opioids. Those opioids include prescription pain medication, heroin and fentanyl. The Centers for Disease Control notes the economic burden of opioid addiction and abuse is $78.5 billion annually.

Georgia was 27th in the number of opioid overdose deaths per 100,000 people, at 9.7, per 2017 figures, or a total of 1,014 people. West Virginia had 49.6 opioid-related deaths per 100,000. 

The Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency because of the opioid crisis in 2017 and unveiled a five-point strategy to curtail the use and abuse as a result. 

• improve access to recovery and treatment services

• promote use of overdose-reversing drugs

• strengthen the understanding of the epidemic through better public health surveillance

• support cutting-edge research on pain and addiction

• advance better practices for pain management

All of those efforts need to be continued. The pandemic is still here. And the opioid crisis is too. While finding ways to curtail and rid the world of COVID-19 have taken precedence, our leaders need to keep in mind the danger of opioids is still with us.