Cuyahoga County’s medical examiner issued a public-health alert on Friday, Nov. 6, after 40 suspected drug overdose deaths were recorded across the county over a five-week period spanning October and November, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office announced in a press release reported by WKYC.
Dr. Thomas Gilson, the county medical examiner, issued the alert for what the office called a “sustained increase in suspected overdose deaths during October and November,” according to WKYC’s reporting of the release. The count is countywide — it covers all of Cuyahoga County, including Cleveland — and it was independently reported by WJW/FOX 8 from the same Nov. 6 release.
The demographics in the alert are stark. Seventeen of the 40 people who died — 42.5 percent — were Black residents, the Medical Examiner’s Office said, as reported by WKYC. “While things have improved, it is important to remember that we still see drug overdoses, especially involving cocaine and our Black population,” Dr. Gilson warned in the Medical Examiner’s Office press release, as reported by WKYC…