The recommendations detail policy solutions in the areas of data and surveillance, harm reduction, and treatment, with special considerations for vulnerable populations.

The report, Saving Lives from Overdose During a Pandemic, draws from peer-reviewed research on opioid overdoses, as well as recommendations from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report also draws from the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP), open-source, and statewide data dashboards.

A majority of states—more than 40—have reported increases in opioid-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the ODMAP report, a mapping program that collects suspected fatal and non-fatal overdoses in real time across jurisdictions in the United States. Nationwide, there’s been an 18% increase in overdoses since the beginning of 2020, according to ODMAP.

The report offers guidance around increasing the capacity for state and local health departments to track and report changes in drug-related data during the pandemic. Specifically, researchers recommend using federal funding to support creating new data management systems that automatically assemble data to allow for more timely analysis. They also recommend that research focuses on racial disparities and health inequities to inform equitable solutions to both the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid epidemic.

The authors call for state and local jurisdictions to declare syringe service programs—community-based organizations that provide support services, linkages to substance use treatment, and access to safer drug use supplies—to be essential services during the pandemic.

Pandemic mitigation efforts have disrupted these programs, leaving clients with fewer resources. In addition, the report recommends that state and local jurisdictions issue emergency orders that make it easier to distribute harm reduction materials such as clean syringes and naloxone, a medication that reverses overdoses, to community-based organizations and service providers.

Read the full article about opioid crisis during COVID-19 by Carly Kempler at Futurity.