Seattle — With just two months left in the year, King County is seeing a record-breaking number of fentanyl overdoses.
KOMO-TV reports new numbers from King County Public Health said there were 116 fentanyl overdoses in 2019. As of this October 2020, there’s been 135 fentanyl overdoses, surpassing all of last year.
Fentanyl overdoses are disproportionately affecting young people who think they’re purchasing real prescription pills off the street, but end up getting counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, experts said.
In 2015, fentanyl related deaths only made up 1% of all overdoses in the county, compared to 40% in 2020, experts said.
“What really scary about this, is that it’s impacting our youth more than ever,” said Brad Finegood, Strategic Advisor for King County Public Health. “So young people are dying of fentanyl-related overdose because of the way fentanyl is getting into our community.”
In the age of COVID-19, a King County graph shows fentanyl overdoses peak in the beginning of the pandemic.
“These are pandemics on top of each other,” said Finegood.
Experts said while they’re still looking into the correlation with the Covid-19 pandemic, many people are trying to find ways to cope with isolation and anxiety.
“We do know that people are struggling with their emotional health and wellbeing during Covid,” said Finegood. “We know rates of anxiety and depression have gone up during Covid.”
That’s why they’re warning about turning to counterfeit pills that could end up deadly.
