High Rates of Drug-related Overdoses – October 22, 2020

Date/Time/ Approximate Location

October 13th through October 20th, 2020

Event description

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit’s surveillance and monitoring system has identified an increase in drug-related overdoses between October 13th and October 20th, 2020. Over a 24-hour period on October 20th, 2020 there were 9 substance misuse & overdose related emergency department visits. Between October 13th through October 20th, 2020 there were eleven (11) opioid overdoses, eight (8) of them involved fentanyl.

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 Service