A Regional View of Drug Deaths in New York State During the Height of COVID-19
Until COVID-19, it appeared that the opioid crisis was finally ebbing in New York. After years of rapid and significant growth of drug deaths in New York State, 2018 and 2019 finally saw a decline in drug deaths as if the tide was turning. However, in 2020 — during the height of the first wave of COVID — drug deaths grew considerably. Recently, I analyzed federal data which found that drug deaths in New York State increased 35% in 2020 (from 3,814 deaths in 2019 to 5,165 deaths in 2020), exceeding the total during the height of the opioid crisis in 2017. Although there is no definitive evidence from the federal data alone, it is likely that the COVID-19 pandemic played a role in such a dramatic increase.
In addition, as mentioned in my previous post on the topic, the data illustrate that communities of color, specifically the Black community, experience a more severe impact by the increase in drug deaths than other groups. This suggests ongoing health disparities were exacerbated by the pandemic (see chart below). Drug deaths grew by more than 50% in the Black community versus 32% among Whites.
Further analysis of the federal data found that more men died from drug deaths than women in 2020 (more than two and a half times greater among men than woman). On a per capita basis, it shows an even greater divide with 40 deaths per 100K men in New York State in 2020 versus 14 deaths per 100K women.
Breaking Down Drug Deaths by Region in New York State
In 2020, Cayuga County had the greatest increase in the number of drug deaths (220% increase) followed by Saratoga (139% increase) and Ulster (105%) Counties. Given their relatively small sizes, their percentages are greater, but their overall total number of deaths are lower than areas such as New York City. Some counties saw year-over-year decreases like Ontario (-27%), Chemung (-23%), Cattaraugus (-21%), and Rockland (-9%). See Drug Deaths in New York State, by County at the bottom of this post for the full list.
I also analyzed 2020 drug deaths in New York State by three regions: New York City, Long Island, and Rest of State. Overall, the largest increase of drug deaths was from counties outside the City of New York and Long Island with an increase of 45% in the Rest of State versus 33% for New York City and 26% for Long Island.
Overall, the largest increase of drug deaths was from counties outside the City of New York and Long Island with an increase of 45% in the Rest of State versus 33% for New York City and 26% for Long Island.
A note about the data. Less populous counties often have their totals suppressed because of the N-size (or smaller population/deaths) for confidentiality purposes. Therefore, in several instances in the chart at the bottom of this post you will see “Suppressed” as opposed to the number because that data is withheld on the county level by the federal government.
If you equalize for population, the Rest of State still had more drug deaths in 2020 than New York City and Long Island. There were 30 drug deaths for every 100,000 people in the Rest of the State in 2020. New York City and Long Island were identical with 25 drug deaths for every 100,000 people. So no matter how you slice it, the rest of the state had more drug deaths than the lower part of the state in 2020.
I also broke down the counties outside of New York City and Long Island to see if there was more of an impact in the larger urban centers versus rural counties in the rest of the state. If you pull out the counties with the five largest cities in the rest of the state (Albany, Erie [Buffalo], Monroe [Rochester], Onondaga [Syracuse], and Westchester [Yonkers]) and compare it to the remaining 26 upstate counties that had data posted by the federal government, the 26 counties outside of the larger urban centers had a greater per capita drug death rate in 2020. However, the difference is not so great (see chart below).
COVID-19 has presented numerous challenges we must confront and the opioid crisis is one of those challenges. While there has been considerable governmental response to the opioid epidemic in the past several years, including significant increases in funding to address the epidemic, new programs, and new laws and regulations to enhance access to treatment in the past, we need to make sure we focus on data and impactful solutions as opposed to what I call the “spaghetti solutions approach” or tossing various solutions at the wall and hoping one sticks. One barrier to adequately addressing the crisis coming out of the COVID pandemic stage is to make sure governments are in synch with one another and the communities they serve.
