At least 5,215 Ohioans fatally overdosed on drugs last year according to new government data, a nearly 22% increase over 2019 numbers.
The data, released Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics, shows the Ohio uptick was more modest than the national rate. More than 93,000 Americans fatally overdosed in 2020, a staggering total amounting to a 29% increase from the year prior.
The 2020 data reverses what was a promising trend of decreasing overdose rates in Ohio that began in late 2017. However, a muted uptick began in late 2019 before surging as the pandemic started, bringing Ohio nearly back to 2017 levels.
The data reflects the way one emerging health crisis — an infectious disease pandemic — intertwined with and exacerbated a slower burning public health crisis of addiction.
Opioids were at least a partially involved in a round 4,400 of the overdoses, although the overdoses could have involved one or more substances. Cocaine was involved in around 1,250 of them. Methamphetamine and similar drugs were involved in 1,067.
The data is tragic, though hardly surprising. For months, media reports, academic journals and medical associations have warned the economic stress of the pandemic, coupled with related mental health strains and isolation, would worsen America’s addiction crisis.
The American Medical Association has steadily issued pandemic related policy proposals for states to pursue and lengthy lists news clips linking a worsening pandemic to a worsening drug problem.
“The nation’s COVID pandemic made the nation’s drug overdose epidemic worse,” reads its latest issue brief. “Every state has reported a spike or increase in overdose deaths or other problems during the COVID pandemic.
CDC researchers examined economic costs of opioid overdoses and substance use disorders in 2017, finding the epidemic cost $72 billion that year when factoring in direct costs of care alongside economic losses of productivity.
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Also from Ohio Capital Journal:
DeWine signs bill to temporarily ban school COVID-19 vaccine mandates
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed legislation Wednesday that could block schools from mandating vaccination against COVID-19 for the fall.
In the dying moments of the final legislative session before a summer recess, lawmakers tacked the vaccine provision as an amendment onto an unrelated bill regarding educational opportunities for military children. The amendment:
- Forbids K-12 schools and colleges from requiring any vaccine that has not yet received “full approval” from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- Forbids the schools from “discriminating” against anyone who has not been vaccinated, which includes infection control provisions like masks and social distancing.
- Does not apply to hospitals or health care facilities operated by or affiliated with universities.
It passed on party lines in both chambers, with Republicans in support and Democrats in opposition. READ MORE
State school board to ask AG for opinion on anti-racism resolution
In the weeks after the death of George Floyd spurred a nationwide movement against racism and police brutality, members of the Ohio Board of Education passed a resolution to acknowledge racial inequities and urge school officials to drive out racism in the education system.
The state school board is now pushing back against the resolution it once approved. The board now wants the state attorney general to decide whether the training and other anti-racism measures outlined in the resolution are legally binding.
“Even I could not have imagined the outrage of parents and community members over the training required by the resolution and the assertions made in it,” said member John Hagan, who put forward a resolution to ask for the legal opinion that was approved by 14-4 vote.
The reversal is part of a burgeoning controversy surrounding public education on the topics of race and American history. Hagan accused the anti-racism resolution as being connected to “critical race theory,” an academic term dealing with socioeconomic disparities that has been widely used and condemned by conservatives in recent months. He also accused it of being “1619-esque,” a reference to a Pulitzer Prize-winning series published by the New York Times examining the history of slavery in America. READ MORE
State school board member asks Ohio superintendent: ‘Are you paid by Bill Gates?’
During a recent state school board discussion of student vaccinations, a board member offered a question to the Ohio superintendent of public instruction.
“I’m just wondering what kind of influence Bill Gates does have on you … “Are you paid by Bill Gates?” board member Diana Fessler asked Supt. Paolo DeMaria.
The comments came during the board’s July meeting on Monday, as members asked DeMaria about COVID-19 vaccination in schools. Other questions during the discussion regarded age limits on vaccines themselves — the Pfizer vaccination has been approved for children as young as age 12 — and whether or not the vaccines are mandatory for school children.
(Gov. Mike DeWine has since signed a bill into law that would temporarily ban K-12 schools and colleges in Ohio from issuing such COVID-19 mandates.) READ MORE
