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As of Tuesday, the coronavirus had claimed 17,344 lives in Massachusetts.
The state Department of Public Health s total 2,104 confirmed and estimated opioid deaths in 2020 is up from the 2,002 recorded in 2019 and slightly above the previous record high of 2,102 in 2016.
The rate of opioid overdose deaths statewide was 30.2 per 100,000 people, slightly lower than the 30.6 recorded in 2016. The DPH s quarterly opioid report described that difference as not statistically significant.
In Falmouth, the number of fatal overdoses remained stable, bucking the national trend. In 2019 there were 11 fatal overdoses. In 2020 there were 10, according to figures provided by Falmouth police Lt. Douglas DeCosta. Likewise, the increase in 2020 from 2019 is not statistically significant, the report said, describing the uptick from 28.7 per 100,000 in 2019. Taken together, this indicates that the opioid-related overdose death rate has been stable for the past several years.