Officials said by Thursday night there were about 22 overdoses and two deaths reported.
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That a tainted supply of heroin and/or cocaine in New Haven, Conn., caused at least 16 overdoses, three of them fatal Thursday, is bad enough.
Officials said the numbers will likely rise and they pleaded with drug users to be careful.
Stay with FOX 61 as the story develops. Many victims who survived are on artificial respiration due to very low oxygen levels, D’Onofrio said. Two people died in New Haven and at least one more died in a surrounding town, officials said. The cases were also reported from the towns of West Haven and Shelton.
State health officials said they’re sending 700 doses of the overdose reversing drug Narcan to New Haven.
The police were trying to determine whether the powerful painkiller fentanyl or another substance had played a role in the overdoses.
The number of overdoses prompted the city to send residents a notification message to phones and emails warning of the so-called tainted heroin, which, when mixed with the synthetic opioid fentanyl, is far more risky.
The City of New Haven has announced a news conference for 11:00 a.m. Friday at police headquarters. Most, but not all of the overdoses occurred in the Newhallville area of the city.
The medical examiner’s office reports that 208 people died of accidental drug overdoses in CT from January to March and projects the year-end total will be around 832, up from 729 past year and more than double the total from 2012.
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Many victims told detectives that they thought they were buying cocaine, the spokesman said. “That’s why we have been doing everything in our power to stop this epidemic and prevent tragedy”.
