The COVID-19 pandemic is gripping the world, but the U.S. is also dealing with another public health crisis. <br /><br />New government data released this week illustrates that drug overdose deaths are on the rise. <br /><br /> In 2019, there were nearly 71,000 deaths attributed to drug overdose, according to the CDC. <br /><br />According to Gizmodo, that is the highest yearly number recorded to date. <br /><br />The CDC’s data shows there were 70,980 deaths related to drug overdose, slightly above the 2017 count of 70,237. <br /><br />As with previous years, the majority of these preventable deaths involved the use of opioids.
