The most-populated county in Ohio might need a second morgue if the number of overdose deaths doesn’t decline.
Franklin County had 23 overdose deaths from Jan. 31 to Feb. 7, county coroner Dr. Anahi Ortiz said in a statement on her Facebook page. Five more people died the next day. The county usually has one or two overdose deaths a day.
Dr. Anahi Ortiz claims the majority of overdoses resulted from fentanyl, a powerful anesthetic deadliest drug in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
“About 75 to 80 percent of our overdose deaths involve fentanyl or a fentanyl analog.
Fentanyl has just gotten into everything. We’re seeing fentanyl in cocaine, fentanyl in methamphetamine, we’ve seen black market oxy with fentanyl in it. It’s just everywhere.
The county has struggled to find the resources for the increase of deaths. Our folks are tired. It’s straining our capacity.
We’ve had to switch the freezer over to a cooler in order to accommodate more [dead bodies] in our facility. And we have several times been to the point where we’re thinking of calling for a temporary morgue,”
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