Coroner: Franklin County saw uptick in overdose deaths in first 6 months of 2020
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX/WTTE) — The Franklin County Coroner's Office released its finding for overdose deaths for the first six months of 2020.
Franklin County saw 437 people die from an overdose between January and June, which is an increase of 73.4% from 2019, according to Franklin County Coroner Dr. Anahi Ortiz.
She said fentanyl related overdoses, accounted for 85.5% of all overdose deaths in 2020 compared to 79% in 2019, while heroin related deaths accounted for 2.5% for 2020, compared to 2019.
Overdoses from cocaine saw no real change in 2020, but deaths did increase by over 4% from methamphetamines.
There was also an uptick in deaths from drugs that were combined with fentanyl:
- Fentanyl + cocaine: 2019 = 37.3% 2020 = 40.5%
- Fentanyl + cocaine + meth: 2019 = 3.17% 2020 = 5.5%
Officials say 27.4% of those who died from an overdose in 2020 were African American, and Hispanics made up 3% of overdose deaths, according to the report.
The report says that men dying of overdoses continues to be higher than woman.
The coroner's office said the following zip codes have the highest number of overdose deaths for this period; 43223, 43207, 43204, 43232, 43211.
ABC 6/FOX 28 will continue to follow the latest on the drug epidemic in Ohio.
