Holland Reporter

Even as the nation struggles to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s still another health crisis that has long been stalking Michigan residents and their loved ones: the opioid epidemic.

Henry Ford Health System's Dr. Frank McGeorge recently appeared on WJR’s "The Paul W. Smith Show" to discuss how the response to COVID-19 has affected the opioid crisis and what medical professionals are doing about it.

In the first four months of 2020, opioid deaths grew by 11%, McGeorge said. Yet the news coverage of those deaths has declined as the coronavirus, social distancing and mask requirements have taken center stage.

"They kind of let the opioid epidemic fall by the wayside,” Smith commented on the news media on his radio program. “And I’ve got a feeling it hasn’t gone anywhere; it's still there.”

McGeorge confirmed Smith’s fear regarding the ongoing severity of the opioid epidemic. In fact, the stress of the entire situation and resulting mental health crisis brought on by the shutdowns and restrictions related to the coronavirus have contributed to an increase in substance abuse problems, he said.

McGeorge said he has seen reports of a 23% increase in the use of Narcan by Macomb County EMTs. Narcan is the drug used to save people who have overdosed on opioids.

"So, yes, indeed, if anything, it is in fact getting worse,” McGeorge told Smith.

And the shift in priority of reporting hasn’t helped either, McGeorge said. Even as the opioid crisis has worsened, public awareness of the situation has dropped as the once-daily reporting of opioid numbers has fallen off into silence.

"Now with COVID-19, you would never know that it was still a problem. But it's not only still there, it’s actually grown worse,” McGeorge said on the radio program.

In fact, there has actually been an 18% increase in drug overdoses nationwide that directly correlate to stay-at-home orders, according to McGeorge.