Pandemic could result in an increase of drug overdoses

Jozsef Papp @JozsefPapp_

Apr 26, 2020 at 6:56 PM

Social distancing is a way to keep people safe from contracting and spreading the coronavirus, but for some addicts it could have a negative effect, according to experts in the field.

"Social distancing does mean a lot of people lost their in-person support, which is especially prominent in addiction," said Dr. Joseph Hernandez, a psychiatry and addiction medicine specialist at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. "A lot of the support comes in meetings like AA and Celebrate Recovery and various other kind of meetings."

Hernandez is concerned about a possible increase of overdoses as a result of addicts losing support systems. Although the data is too limited to determine whether there is a substantial increase in overdoses, some places in the nation have reported a surge.

There was a reported 20% increase in overdose emergency calls last month to the Jacksonville, Fla., fire and rescue department. In New York state, at least four counties acknowledge an increase in overdoses, with Erie County seeing at least 110 drug overdoses, including 36 deaths, since the beginning of March, according to Augusta University.

Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen said there hasn’t been any cases in the past week locally, but he acknowledged that doesn’t mean the shelter-in-place order is not impacting addicts.

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"You are always concerned," Bowen said. "People want to get out and get their drugs if they are addicted to drugs. (An increase) is always a concern, but we hope it doesn’t."

Hernandez said he is glad a lot of the rehab facilities have adapted and are offering services online, but there will be some who will unfortunately be left behind.

" There are going to be patients that get lost along the way. The quickness of the transition meant people weren’t really prepared for it," he said. "One day you were going into a meeting, everything was OK. The next week, everything is shut down. It was kind of a shock for the whole system in general."

Hale Foundation program director Billy Treadwell said it has the benefit of having all the patients living together. They have adapted social distancing and stopped attending outside AA meetings but continued to have in-house meetings.

Treadwell said those meetings are essential as people go through the program of recovering, especially those who are just starting.

"They are hugely important for a couple of reasons," he said. "It’s a place we go and you hear messages of hope, you see people and meet people, as they share their story, you can find that critical element of identification that is so important to an addict."

Hernandez said another factor is the added stress people are experiencing during this pandemic. He said it’s common for people to go to their coping mechanisms, good or bad, when dealing with stress.

"When you got support systems and there are treatments and stuff and you take that all away, of course there are going to be more problems, more issues," he said. "When you put a whole nation under stress like this, it is bound to push people more over the edge."

He said another factor could be a lot of the attention has been shifted to the coronavirus while other problems such as overdoses and addiction are still present. He said those problems are likely to get worse because of the pandemic.

" It’s not like they are not going on, they are still having problems, in fact, a lot of the problems are going to be worse because of COVID-19," he said. "With overdoses, if people are social distancing and staying home, but they are still using substances and nobody is checking in on them, it’s likely to spike the overdose deaths."

Hernandez said people still need to maintain connections with those struggling with addiction. It’s important to check on them regularly.

"Connections are important in addiction, mental health and everything in general, so it’s good advice for everybody to be calling and checking up on people that you care about and making sure they are doing okay," he said.

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