Is the overdose crisis being overlooked due to COVID?
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PRINCE GEORGE — While the number of test-positive COVID cases continues to increase, another health crisis also continues in BC. Illicit drug deaths are on pace to reach record highs for the region and province, and there is worry the overdose crisis may be getting overlooked due to the pandemic.
Through the month of October, an average of five people per day died due to illicit drug toxicity overdoses and 162 overall in BC. More than double the number for the same time last year. But while frontline workers and people dealing with these issues continue to advocate for a solution, numbers can sometimes feel overlooked due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For Northern Health, there have been 83 deaths this year where fentanyl has been detected, only four off the record high with two months to go. In many of the rural and remote communities especially, Lisa Lapointe, Chief Coroner for BC, admits the same resources are not available to the same extent as larger centres. And that problem has been exacerbated by the pandemic as the province is forced to reallocate resources.
