Comptroller: Overdose deaths up nearly 70% during pandemic

Overdose deaths increased almost 70% during the COVID pandemic.

This new report comes from the New York state comptroller.

The report says almost 5,000 people died from overdoses from 2019 to 2021.

These rates are higher than in 2017 by more than 1,700 deaths.

The comptroller’s report says these increased deaths are due to the increase in opioids related to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.