One of the most devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the disproportionate number of deaths among people who are most vulnerable, and that includes people with opioid use disorder. New data from the National Center for Health Statistics revealed that between April 2020 and 2021, more than 100,000 people died from drug overdoses, the highest rate in a 12-month period ever recorded by the agency. About 75% of those deaths involved opiates.
Opioid use was already surging in the U.S., but COVID-19 accelerated it in a few key ways. For a piece I wrote yesterday on the rising numbers, Dr. Andrew Kolodny, medical director of Opioid Policy Research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, told me that getting treatment for people with opioid use disorder is logistically complex and expensive to access, especially for people coping with the cycle of withdrawal and addiction. COVID-19 further complicated access by interrupting support groups and treatment programs. The psychological impacts of the pandemic, like stress and social isolation, also hit people struggling to avoid relapse particularly hard.
COVID-19 also seems to be helping to make the illicit drug supply even more dangerous by expediting the spread of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can be 50 times more potent than heroin. As the new data reveal, fentanyl is increasingly appearing in western parts of the U.S., where it hasn’t been seen much before, and is being mixed with other drugs. This may be an indirect result of the pandemic. Fentanyl is more compact than drugs like heroin, so it’s easier to carry or mail. Border crossings dropped during the pandemic, which may have incentivized drug traffickers to prioritize the drug that’s easier to transport. Another reason why fentanyl is so dangerous is that it’s reaching people who aren’t accustomed to such a potent opioid—either because it’s being used by people who aren’t aware it’s mixed in with another drug, such as cocaine, or it’s reaching places where less potent opioids have historically been more common.
While such a high rate of overdose deaths is shocking, Kolodny tells me it was always a “safe bet” to assume that opioid deaths would rise during the pandemic; after all, opioid overdoses have risen almost annually for the 25 years of the opioid epidemic. However, as Kolodny emphasizes, that does not mean deaths from overdoses are inevitable. “We can prevent opioid addiction, and we can treat opioid addiction, and we're really failing on both fronts,” he says.
More than 599 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of yesterday afternoon, of which more than 488.2 million doses have been administered, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 61% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
Nearly 272.2 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 12 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 5.3 million people have died. On Dec. 15, there were 728,217 new cases and 8,714 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded nearly 50.4 million coronavirus cases as of 12 a.m. E.T. today. More than 802,500 people have died. On Dec. 15, there were 141,205 new cases and 2,167 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Dec. 16, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The UK recorded 78,610 new cases yesterday, a new high, as the country battles a viral wave driven by the Omicron variant. British leaders are bracing for the holidays; chief medical officer Chris Whitty urged the public to prioritize holiday plans that matter most to them, warning the public at a news conference yesterday, "Don't mix with people you don't have to," per Reuters. Even 95-year-old Queen Elizabeth II has scaled back her holiday plans, canceling her traditional pre-Christmas lunch for the royal family, the New York Times reports. France, meanwhile, announced new limits on business and leisure travel from the UK and a requirement for a 48-hour quarantine period, the AP reports.
As China announces new restrictions to tamp down on Omicron before Beijing hosts the 2022 Winter Olympics, millions of people will likely need to roll back their Lunar New Year celebrations. (The holiday begins at the end of January.) Authorities in Tianjin and Guangzhou, where the first Omicron cases in the country were detected, have implemented new lockdowns, targeted tracing efforts and mass testing, while officials elsewhere are discouraging holiday travel and tightening border controls, the Washington Post reports. However, many residents have expressed dismay about missing out on the third New Year in a row.
The U.S. Army announced today that 96% of its active-duty members have been fully vaccinated. In September, the Army, the largest U.S. military branch, warned that service members who failed to obey a vaccine mandate could face suspension or an official reprimand; so far, the Army has dismissed six leaders and issued 2,767 reprimands to soldiers who refused to get vaccinated. The Army said it is still processing thousands of exemption requests, including religious exemptions.
Facing its biggest ever surge of cases, South Korea will ban social gatherings with more than five people, require remote learning at schools and force restaurants to close at 9 p.m., the AP reports. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum announced today that the measures will start Saturday and last for at least 16 days. South Korea has had 47,533 new cases and 441 new deaths over the past week, a record for the country, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker.
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Today's newsletter was written by Tara Law and edited by Mandy Oaklander.
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