Health officials issue 2nd opioid overdose alert this month

For the second time this month, health officials in Windsor-Essex are sounding the alarmoverthe number of opioid overdoses in the community.

The Windsor-Essex Community Opioidand Substance Strategy (WECOSS) issued an alert Thursday following an uptick in overdoses from Dec. 15 to 21.

WECOSS says that between those dates, eight overdoses were reported, six of which involved the powerful opioidfentanyl. WECOSS says that exceeds the five-year average for overdoses within those dates.

In addition, 13 EMS calls related to substance use were made during that week, according to WECOSS.

"Together, theeight opioid overdoses combined with the thirteen substance-use related EMS callsare values that warrant apublic alert," WECOSS said in its alert.

WECOSS a partnership between public health, police, hospitals and other groups has issued 11 alerts on overdoses in the last year.

Most recently, the group said that 11 opioid overdoses werereported between Dec. 5 and Dec. 11.

Last year, 86 people lost their lives to opioid overdosesin Windsor-Essex.