U.S. states and cities are seeing increases in opioid-related overdose deaths A paper issued by the American Medical Association this summer found that 41 states had reported spikes in overdose deaths during the pandemic. As of mid-July, for example, more than 1,100 residents in the Chicago area had died from opioid-related overdoses in 2020, about double the number during the same period in 2019, according to ProPublica. By August, opioid overdoses in South Carolina had increased 50% over the same period last year. In some cities, current estimates are that these deaths could far exceed those from Covid-19. But despite these increasing death tolls, much of the recent political momentum behind calls for safe injection sites in the U.S. has faded as public health priorities shift.