COVID pandemic only exacerbated Massachusetts’ opioid epidemic and ‘thrust people who use into even further isolation,’ experts say Updated 1:25 PM; The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenges of the ongoing opioid epidemic, officials and experts say, leading people who use into further isolation. As the pandemic changed just about every aspect of daily life, people were urged to stay at home and keep a distance from others, opposite the advice typically given to people in recovery. “The pandemic has taken basically what is a very complex disease, a treatable disease of the...