BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The amount of fatal opioid overdoses in Erie County is decreasing.
According to the Dr. Gale Burstein, the Erie County commissioner of health, she suspects the final number for fatal overdoses for 2018 to be below 200. That's a major decrease from 2016, which had 301 overdoses.
Fatal opioid overdoses by the numbers:
2016 - 301
2017 - 251
2018 - 130 (75 suspected)
The commissioner said that not all the suspected cases will be determined as opioid overdoses.
This past weekend there were nine overdoses in Buffalo, three of which were fatal. Dr. Burstein said this is an anomaly and not an indication of an impending increase in overdoses.
