Halfway through 2019, Indiana County is on-pace for a record-low number of drug overdose deaths.
“OverdoseFreePA,” a website maintained by the University of Pittsburgh, shows only three overdose deaths within the county in the first six months of the year. If the pace remains the same and the total 2019 overdose deaths for the county is six, it would be far below the thirteen recorded in 2014, the lowest number recorded since 2008, the first year for which the website has data. Those numbers can quickly turn around. In 2015, overdose deaths jumped to 40, and they peaked in Indiana County in 2016, when there were 53. They fell to 41 in 2017 and 23 last year.
Indiana County’s overdose statistics are reported to OverdoseFreePA by Coroner Jerry Overman Jr.
