High Rates of Drug-related Overdoses – February 5, 2021

Date/Time/ Approximate Location

January 27th through February 3rd, 2021

Windsor, Ontario

Event description

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit’s surveillance and monitoring system has identified an increase in drug-related overdoses between January 27th through February 3rd, 2021. There were twenty-two (22) fentanyl-related emergency department visits during this time period and sixteen (16) were overdoses. Based on our comparisons to previous years for this week, these numbers are extremely high and warrant a community alert.

Partners involved in the WECOSS including WECHU, Windsor Regional Hospital, Essex Windsor-EMS, Erie Shores Healthcare, and Police Services continue to monitor this increase and are working to understand more about these reported cases.

Response

Please share this information with clients and relevant partners.  If you are aware of any linkages between these cases, or other causes for these increases please contact the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.

For signs & symptoms of opioid overdose and what to do, visit the WECOSS website: How Can Overdose Be Prevented?

Source

WECHU (Acute Care Enhanced Surveillance Application - ACES), Essex-Windsor EMS Overdose Notification System, Windsor Police Services