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Hamilton County overdose deaths outpace state, federal increases

Staff photo by Troy Stolt / On Nov. 18, 2021, in Signal Mountain, Tenn., Lisa Jarvis poses for a portrait with photos of her son Logan, who died of a fentanyl overdose. Staff photo by Troy Stolt / On Nov. 18, 2021, in Signal Mountain, Tenn., Lisa Jarvis poses for a portrait with photos of her son Logan, who died of a fentanyl overdose.

By La Shawn Pagán November 18, 2021 6 min read

With the number of deaths by overdose in the U.S. now reaching a grim milestone – topping an all-time high of 100,000 in a 12-month period – data in Tennessee and Hamilton County show an even more alarming trend.

Overdose deaths nationwide grew by 28.5% in the 12 months ending April 2021, compared to the same period a year earlier.

Tennessee’s rose by 50.1% during the same period, the fifth-largest increase in the nation, according to estimates in a Wednesday report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meanwhile, Hamilton County suffered 151 overdose deaths in the 12 months ending March 2021, the latest data available. That’s a 61% increase over the same period a year earlier, when the county saw 94 overdose deaths.