Data from the CDC show that drug overdose deaths surged during the pandemic. Nationwide, drug overdose deaths increased 29 percent, from October 2019 through September, 2020.
Jefferson Parish Coroner Dr. Jerry Cvitanovich says for a while, it looked like things were under control.
"The opioid epidemic, seemingly, to me, had kind of plateaued or was starting to plateau when COVID hit," he said.
Dr. Cvitanovich says it hit Jefferson worse -- with nearly a 50 percent increase: "They've gone up substantially, 154 to 230."
Dr. Cvitanovich says people may have turned from prescriptions to street drugs.
"They wind up buying it on the street," he said, "and what you're usually buying on the street, most of it's fake, and usually the fake stuff has fentanyl in it, which is exponentially more potent."
Dr. Cvitanovich says overdose deaths related to fentanyl doubled in that time.
