Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health
Population Health Research Brief Series
States’ COVID-19 Restrictions were Associated with Increases in Drug Overdose Deaths in 2020
Douglas A. Wolf, Shannon M. Monnat, Jennifer Karas Montez, Emily Wiemers, and Elyse Grossman
May 2024
Abstract
Drug overdoses surged in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health experts raised concerns in the pandemic’s early months about how the pandemic and the policies enacted to stem it might increase overdose risk. This brief summarizes the findings of a paper that used national data to identify how states’ COVID-19 policies affected drug overdose rates among U.S. adults ages 25-64 during the first year of the pandemic. Results show that counties located in states that adopted more aggressive in-person activity restrictions experienced larger increases in 2020 than counties located in states with fewer limitations. State economic support policies helped reduce overdose mortality rates, but not enough to offset the effects of the physical distancing policies.
Population Health Brief Series
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Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health
Population Health Research Brief Series
States’ COVID-19 Restrictions were Associated with Increases in Drug Overdose Deaths in 2020
Douglas A. Wolf, Shannon M. Monnat, Jennifer Karas Montez, Emily Wiemers, and Elyse Grossman
May 2024
Abstract
Drug overdoses surged in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health experts raised concerns in the pandemic’s early months about how the pandemic and the policies enacted to stem it might increase overdose risk. This brief summarizes the findings of a paper that used national data to identify how states’ COVID-19 policies affected drug overdose rates among U.S. adults ages 25-64 during the first year of the pandemic. Results show that counties located in states that adopted more aggressive in-person activity restrictions experienced larger increases in 2020 than counties located in states with fewer limitations. State economic support policies helped reduce overdose mortality rates, but not enough to offset the effects of the physical distancing policies.