Dr. Bonnie Henry (left) and BC chief coroner Dr. Lisa Lapointe (right) breaking down the numbers behind another fatal month in B.C. (Gov't of B.C.)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

epidemic

2020 now tied for second deadliest year in Nanaimo throughout overdose epidemic

Dec 21, 2020 | 12:32 PM

NANAIMO – 2020 is now tied for the second most fatal year in Nanaimo for overdoses.

Data from the BC Coroners Service on Monday, Dec. 21 showed 37 people fatally overdosed in Nanaimo by the end of November, matching the total from 2018.

With one month of data collection left for 2020, the year will almost certainly be the second deadliest on record in Nanaimo.

A further three people lost their lives due to illicit substances in Nanaimo in November.

Across the central Vancouver Island area, six people passed away last month. This is the lowest number of fatalities in the area since May, when the crisis resurged due to an increasingly toxic drug supply and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The BC Coroners Service said Island Health is the only B.C. health authority with death rates trending downwards in recent months.

2020 is on track to be the most fatal year ever in B.C.

Another 153 people died across the province in November for a total of 1,548.

The number of lives lost in November was 89 per cent higher than November, 2019, but down seven per cent from the month before in B.C.

As ever, more than 80 per cent of illicit drug toxicity deaths occurred inside.

Illicit overdoses were declared a public health emergency in 2016, an order which remains in place.

Roughly twice as many people have fatally overdosed in B.C. than died of COVID-19 this year.

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