Cobb sees spikes in fentanyl overdoses

Jake Busch, Marietta Daily Journal, Ga.
·3 min read

Aug. 18—Concern about lethal drug overdoses is rising in Cobb County as health officials have begun more closely tracking hospital visits due to overdose.

According to Cobb and Douglas Public Health, Cobb has seen spikes in fentanyl overdoses in recent months, a trend the health department attributes to street drugs such as cocaine and Percocet being combined with the highly potent synthetic opioid.

The health department's alarm over spikes in fentanyl overdoses comes as it has started tracking emergency room visits attributed to those overdoses, something not done in previous years. Though the department did not start tracking emergency room visits related to fentanyl until a few months ago, numbers for overdose deaths are available through the Georgia Department of Public Health's statistics dashboard.

"In 2021, Cobb County opioid overdose deaths increased by 76% over pre-pandemic (2019) levels, whereas synthetic opioid overdose deaths, including fentanyl, increased 169% from 2019 to 2021," said Valerie Crow, spokesperson for Cobb and Douglas Public Health, citing state public health data. "Opioid death rates are increasing the fastest for people 30-44 years, with a death rate increase of 58% from 2019 to 2021."

Fentanyl overdose deaths increased from 31 in 2019 to 88 in 2020, according to the Cobb County Medical Examiner's annual report for 2020. Data from the state health department listed 97 deaths in Cobb in 2021 from synthetic opioid overdoses not including methadone.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that fentanyl, 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, is either pharmaceutical or illicitly manufactured, though both are considered synthetic opioids.

While pharmaceutical fentanyl is approved for treating severe pain, usually due to advanced cancer, illicitly manufactured fentanyl "is sold through illegal drug markets for its heroin-like effect," according to the CDC. People using street drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine may not realize the drugs they are using contain illegal fentanyl.

"Spikes consist of a particular area having more overdoses due to fentanyl than we would expect," Crow said an email to the MDJ. "Because the ability to track emergency room visits specifically for fentanyl is new, we are not able to compare recent increases to previous years. However, this capability has allowed us to see spikes in fentanyl-related overdoses."

Crow gave as an example one part of Cobb that saw four emergency room visits for fentanyl-related incidents in a single week. That area of the county, she said, usually sees no more than one opioid-related emergency room visit in the same amount of time.

Crow added the department works with law enforcement and first responders to better confront the opioid crisis in Cobb.

"Cobb and Douglas Public Health looks at weekly surveillance data and shares the information with local first responders and healthcare providers so that they can respond to any possible increases in fentanyl-related overdoses in their areas," Crow said.

In May, the CDC announced it estimated 107,622 overdose deaths in the U.S in 2021, a roughly 15% increase from an estimated 93,655 overdose deaths in 2020.

Of the more than 107,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. during 2021, the CDC estimates 71,238 of those deaths were due to synthetic opioids.

Cobb residents looking to decrease their risk of a fentanyl overdose are advised by the county's health department to visit https://www.cobbanddouglaspublichealth.com/services-adult-health-services-opioid-epidemic/.