Franklin County officials today released preliminary overdose death statistics for the first nine months of 2019.
The Franklin County Coroner’s Office says 421 people died of overdoses from January 1 through September 30 of last year. That’s an increase of 15% from the same time frame in 2018. Mike Foley reports.
The coroner’s office says 90% of the fatalities for the first three quarters of 2019 were opiate-related, with fentanyl accounting for nearly 84% of all overdose deaths. Cocaine was found to be the cause in nearly 41% of the fatalities.
The coroner’s office also analyzed the numbers based on race and ethnicity, gender, and age. Officials say 67% were white, 28% black, 3% Hispanic, and 1% Asian. The number of males dying of overdoses continues to be higher than that of females – 69.4% to 30.6%. Most of the fatalities occurred in people between the ages of 30 and 49.
The five zip codes with the highest number of overdose deaths for this period were: 43211, 43207, 43229, 43204, and 43232.
