By Liz Holbrook
RHINELANDER, WI (WSAU-WXPR) –Opioid hospitalizations and deaths are up in Wisconsin compared to last year.
The Department of Health Services has data compiled through May. Between January and May 487 people in the state have died because of opioids as opposed to the same time last year, only 361 people had died.
Forest County Potawatomi Health & Wellness Administrator Thomas Boelter says he’s seen an increase in drug use during the COVID-19 pandemic. He says part of the rise could be because of the anxiety created by the pandemic. “COVID brings a lot of fear to people and sometimes people if they don’t deal with their fear, if they don’t talk about their fear, it can be enough to set them off.”
Wisconsin is experiencing an increase in opioid drug abuse.
As of June of this year, 2,147 people had been to the hospital because of opioids.
If you look at the same time frame in 2019, there had be 1,727 hospitalizations, according to data from the Department of Health Services.
Forest County Potawatomi Health & Wellness Administrator Thomas Boelter says he’s seen an increase in drug use during the pandemic, but that hasn’t necessarily translated to overdoses and deaths.
“Fortunately, we’ve been able to manage the number of overdoses because we’ve had good contact with our patients and clients,” said Boelter.