Prognosis
Opioids Rip Through U.S. Workforce, With Deaths at Record Level
- Overshadowed by Covid, the toll from drugs was inexorable
- Companies need to fill slots, but tests are a hiring hurdle
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Before the Covid-19 pandemic was the drug epidemic. Its relentless toll added a record 90,722 overdose deaths in the U.S. for the year through November 2020, a grim number obscured by coronavirus casualties that recently topped 600,000, according to federal data released Wednesday.
As the virus transfixed the nation, the drug crisis spread to largely untouched parts of the country -- exacerbated by the recession and millions of job losses. Not only stores and restaurants shuttered: Counseling services moved online, inpatient clinics closed and mobile clinics pulled back. Without support, many Americans relapsed and some turned to drugs for the first time.