When the pandemic hit, visits to hospital emergency departments plummeted by more than 40%. People were scared of catching the coronavirus so they avoided hospitals. However, all overdoses and opioid overdoses were the only two categories for which there was an increase in hospital stays.
Drug deaths in America, which fell for the first time in 25 years in 2018, rose to record numbers in 2019 and are continuing to climb in 2020 and 2021. Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say fatal drug overdoses nationwide have surged roughly 20% during the pandemic, killing more than 72,000 Americans in 2019 (an increase of 5 percent from 2018) and 83,000 people in 2020. Deaths from drug overdoses remain higher than the peak yearly death totals ever recorded for car accidents, or gun violence, and their acceleration in recent years has pushed down overall life expectancy in the United States. These numbers are less than the actual number of deaths as most overdoses aren’t even reported to hospitals. I was incredibly disappointed by these statistics. The pandemic had halted the progress the world of public health had made in combating addiction.
The pandemic has affected many who are struggling with substance use disorder. People have lost their jobs, social and family interactions have been limited, and the isolation has been depressing and anxiety-provoking. These stimuli have been triggering people to begin drug use and pushing people who were getting their addiction under control back toward substance use. The isolation of quarantine comes with practical dangers as well. Using drugs alone is much more dangerous than doing so with others since there is no one around if a revival attempt is needed. And with in-person treatment vastly curtailed — including visits with doctors or nurses, frequent group counseling sessions, and stays at residential treatment centers — there is far less of the emotional support that can be vital to addiction treatment.
The biggest obstacle for people battling addiction has been the shutting down of many recovery centers. Some centers have turned virtual or shut down because of virus outbreaks, while others struggle to retain residents after having been compelled to restructure their programming or eliminate visits from family and bar trips outside the facility. A recent survey of 165 centers found that 43 percent had to reduce patient capacity, nearly a third saw a decrease in patient retention and 10 percent had to shut down because of the pandemic. Offering in-person treatment has been challenging for those centers that do not have the resources to test their residents for the coronavirus regularly. Most instead opt to test and quarantine anyone newly admitted, as well as to regularly test staff members who have more contact with the outside world.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/nyregion/addiction-treatment-coronavirus-new-york-new-jersey.html
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