As the coronavirus pandemic has taken over headlines and dominated conversations on public health, another crisis has seemingly been swept under the rug.
The opioid epidemic.
Snohomish County health officials said it their weekly media briefing that opioid use numbers are up since last year.
First Lady Melania Trump used some of her time at the Republican National Convention Tuesday to address the national epidemic. "This disease is one that affects everybody. It pays no attention to race, age, or socioeconomic status. Addiction has touched every part of our society in some way,” she said.
In Snohomish County last year, more than 153 people died from opioid overdoses in Snohomish County.
In just the first quarter of 2020, there were 49 overdose deaths.
Uses of naloxone by first responders to stop overdoses are up too.
In 2019, 642 people were saved from overdoses using naloxone. In the first half of 2020, there were over 413 people saved by the medication.