Morgues in multiple states have resorted to extra storage space for fentanyl overdose victims’ remains after synthetic opioid deaths continued to surge last year, according to Fox News.
Fentanyl overdoses killed over 71,000 people last year following a 1,800% rise in the annual synthetic opioid-related overdose death rate between 2013 and 2020, provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data indicated.
Cook County, Illinois, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Ponni Arunkumar told Fox News opioid-related fatalities, most linked to fentanyl, are outpacing every other type of nonnatural death in the area, and its morgues reportedly require additional space originally prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic.
The county’s morgue enlisted refrigerated trailers, according to the outlet.
St. Louis Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Michael Davis recently expressed concern about the area’s rising fentanyl-related overdose deaths, according to NBC affiliate KSDK.
Some are worried the overdoses might hold a degree of blame for the St. County’s Medical Examiner’s Office body storage overflow options.
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The Coroner’s Office of Marion County, Indiana, said drug overdoses were partially responsible for their morgue’s crowding, according to Fox News.
Georgia’s eight-body capacity Muscogee County Morgue was overcrowded last month before the rate of morgue and autopsy results normalized, according to ABC affiliate News Leader 9.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigations told the outlet that autopsy processing times had been lagging partly because of increased opioid overdoses.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and Marion County Coroner’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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