Wolf Administration Highlights Opioid Response Efforts as Opioid Crisis Continues to Affect Pennsylvania
01/26/2021
Harrisburg, PA - The Wolf Administration today highlighted the latest accomplishments of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) and provided an update on prescribing and overdose trends up to October 2020.
Since the PDMP launched in 2016, there has been a 29.7% increase in the prescribing of buprenorphine. In addition, there has been a 58.6% reduction in the number of individuals receiving a high dosage of opioid medication, a 52.4% reduction in the number of individuals receiving a dangerous drug combination of opioids and benzodiazepines, and a 36.6% reduction in opioid prescribing overall.
AP
TribLIVE s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
Overdose deaths in Pennsylvania will likely tick upward for the first time in several years when 2020 reports are finalized, according to state officials, showing the effects of a year marked by isolation and a cutoff of group and in-person services.
Overdose drug deaths were higher month over month for the first half of 2020 as compared to the same months in 2019, according to updates given by state officials Tuesday on the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.
Because records regarding drug overdose deaths often lag behind the deaths themselves by 3 to 6 months, said Carrie Ann Thomas Goetz, a member of the PDMP office, it is likely numbers from the latter half of 2020 will show increases as well.
We need humanitarian access to Tigray as urgent first step towards peace in Ethiopia
Format
15/01/2021 – HR/VP Blog – For more than two months, conflict has been raging in the Tigray region in Ethiopia. The situation is desperate for the local population and the conflict is unsettling dynamics both within Ethiopia and the whole region. I have passed a clear message to the Ethiopian leadership: we are ready to help, but unless there is access for humanitarian aid operators, the EU cannot disburse the planned budget support to the Ethiopian government.
Without deliberate efforts of de-escalation, conflicts tend to worsen, as Ethiopia’s bloody conflict in the northern Tigray region is reminding us. What started two months ago as an internal matter between an autonomous region and the federal government has become a fight affecting the whole region.
COVID-19 safety precautions have an unexpected upside: little spread of influenza, officials say, while still urging the public to still get flu shots as health systems are overwhelmed by the coronavirus.
10 times worse : Santa Clara County health care system under unprecedented strain
Published
KTVU s Jesse Gary.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - COVID cases are spiking and resources are stretched to the limit in Santa Clara County. The situation prompted officials to plead for the public’s help in stemming the current viral surge.
Each day, the county reports more than 1,000 new COVID-positive cases and at least 100 new hospitalizations.
It is ten times worse than what we had before, said Santa Clara County COVID-19 Health Preparedness Director Dr. Amad Kamal. January is by far the most challenging month we’ve had.
ICU Capacity, or available bed space, has sunk to 8% county-wide. There is a short supply of staffers to handle the growing caseload.