High Number of Opioid Overdoses – April 28, 2021

Windsor-Essex County

Date/Time/Approximate Location

April 19th  through April 25th, 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 April 19th  and April 25th, 2021. During this specified time period, there were 8 opioid overdoses, six (6) of which involved fentanyl. These reported overdoses occurred primarily in Windsor. Based on our comparisons to previous years for this week, these numbers are high and warrant a community alert.

Partners involved in the WECOSS, including the 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