COLUMBUS, Ohio (WTVN)--The Franklin County Coroner's Office Wednesday released a report on overdose deaths for the first three months of 2020, and it shows a significant increase, even before the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
For the 1st 3 months of 2020, there were 55% more deaths due to overdose than in 2019, with fentanyl detected in just over 70% of the deaths.
In just the month of January, drug overdose deaths were up nearly 75% over the same time frame in 2019. That disparity went up to over 117% in February 2020, compared to last year.
In total, there were 191 overdose deaths in Franklin County from January through March of 2020.