So far, 2024 has seen only one fatal overdose in Cayuga County reported to the county’s overdose dashboard. Speaking with FLX Morning, Sheriff Brian Schenck said he attributes this to the use of Narcan, a spray used to reverse the effects of opioids.
“Narcan has a huge impact with these numbers shrinking,” he said. “In fact, many locations across the country are seeing numbers continue to increase, fatality numbers growing. Here in our community, we’ve been able to walk those back.”
Total suspected overdoses have also been slightly decreasing in Cayuga County. While a good sign, Schenck added there’s still more work to be done.
“We’re seeing our overdose numbers drop just a little bit so I think the work that we’re doing communitywide with all our community partners is working,” he continued,” but we still have a long way to go.”
At the time of reporting, the dashboard shows 37 suspected overdoses, including one fatality, have been reported in the first three months of 2024 in Cayuga County.