In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois enacted a stay-at-home order on March 21, 2020; the order was lifted on May 30, 2020. This report describes trends in opioid-involved overdose deaths over a 3-year period and highlights the number of deaths during the 11-week Illinois stay-at-home order. Trends in substance involvement are also examined.
Prior to the pandemic, Cook County, Illinois, had already experienced 2 years of high levels of opioid-involved overdose deaths, with a disturbing increase beginning in late 2019 and early 2020.1 Adding to this, people with substance use disorder (SUD), many of whom already experienced trauma and the effects of incarceration, also faced major disruptions in in-person treatment and recovery services during the early stages of the pandemic. For most people with SUD, the pandemic compounded an already tenuous situation with massive losses of service sector jobs and health insurance, and loss of in-person social support, resulting in increased anxiety, depression, and social isolation.2 The pandemic also led to interruptions and changes in the drug supply. Increasing use of illicit fentanyl had already been contributing to an increase in overdose deaths in Cook County.3 Fatal overdose risk is amplified when powerful, illicitly manufactured opioids are substituted for less potent drugs, which may have been unavailable during lockdown.