November 17, 2022 at 5:50 pm
A rise in opioid overdoses in Windsor-Essex this week has sparked alarm.
The Windsor-Essex Community Opioid and Substance Strategy (WECOSS) noted an increase in opioid-related emergency department visits in the region between November 3-9, prompting the system to sound an alert.
WECOSS reported 11 opioid-related overdose incidents during the period. Four of them involved fentanyl.
“These values exceed the two-year and five-year historical averages for the current week in question, and are more than two standard deviations above the average,” read the WECOSS alert. “These values warrant public vigilance.”
The alert is the ninth to be issued in 2022.
WECOSS is a group of agencies that includes the Windsor-Essex County Health Department, the City of Windsor-Essex (including the City of Windsor), Windsor Police, Ontario Provincial Police, LaSalle Police, Essex- Windsor Emergency Medical Services, Windsor Regional Hospital, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, and others.
Complete information on alerts, and how to recognize an opioid overdose.allowable WECOSS official website.