“The disruption to daily life due to the COVID-19 pandemic has hit those with substance use disorder hard,” said CDC Director Robert Redfield. “As we continue the fight to end this pandemic, it’s important to not lose sight of different groups being affected in other ways. We need to take care of people suffering from unintended consequences.” Opioids were largely responsible for most of the overdose deaths, primarily illegally manufactured fentanyl. Synthetic opioid-linked fatalities rose 38.4 percent when analyzing yearly rates from 2019 to 2020. Deaths involving cocaine — a substance sometimes mixed with fentanyl — have also increased by 26.5 percent. Other drugs seen in more overdose deaths include psychostimulants, namely methamphetamine, which increased by 34.8 percent, outpacing cocaine-related deaths.