Cuyahoga County overdoses are at opioid epidemic levels

By the numbers: According to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office draft midyear report, shared last week with Axios, 343 people have died through June due to overdoses on opioids and cocaine.

• That puts the county on pace for a total of 686, more than 2018 (550), 2019 (582), 2020 (553), 2021 (675) and 2022 (642).

The latest: The medical examiner, Thomas Gilson, issued an emergency health alert last week after nine fatal overdoses were reported within 24 hours July 16-17.

What they're saying: "This is discouraging," Gilson said in a statement. "This is the highest number of suspected overdose deaths we’ve had within a 24-hour period."

• "As best we know, this spike is largely driven by fentanyl. Naloxone and fentanyl test strips are still meaningful harm reduction strategies."

State of play: Cocaine is on the rise as well. In June alone, there were 46 cocaine-related deaths, with as many as 33 of them involving cocaine mixed with fentanyl or heroin.

For a list of community resources and local sites with free drug test strips, visit Test Your Drugs or MetroHealth's office of opioid safety.