Milwaukee County overdose deaths, record pace in 2021 Milwaukee County on pace for record overdose deaths in 2021 Milwaukee County is on pace to surpass record overdose deaths seen in 2020. The U.S. reported a record 93,000 such deaths nationwide in 2020. MILWAUKEE - The U.S. government said overdose deaths reached a record 93,000 in 2020 – 20,000 more than in 2019. That includes 546 such deaths in Milwaukee County, which is on pace to surpass that number again in 2021. In 2020, Ly'Marita Cheeks lost her job taking care of the elderly. This past April, she overdosed at a Milwaukee motel and died days later. "After losing her job from COVID, I think there’s where she spiraled and went downhill," said Lydia Hernandez, Cheeks' mother. "I miss her, and I just want everybody to know that regardless of her using drugs, that she was a good person. And with that she was a donor. I had her organs donated and she saved five lives, so even know she’s gone, she saved five people’s lives."