Tompkins County posts updated overdose data, adds demographic breakdown from medical examiner

Tompkins County public health staff announced an update to the county's opioid-related web pages that includes New York State quarterly opioid report data and an updated demographic breakdown of unintentional overdose deaths drawn from medical examiner records.

Jeremy, a county public health staff member, said the county's "opioid use and resources" page continues to include New York State quarterly opioid-report data, which is updated approximately once per quarter after the state releases it. He said the most recent update added a demographic breakdown of unintentional overdose deaths that the county first posted last year using medical examiner data.

"The data that was recently updated is the demographic breakdown of unintentional overdose deaths," Jeremy said. He told the meeting the county had posted a five-year spread last year and this year adjusted the range by removing the oldest year to preserve counts in a small-population county.

Staff also noted an existing table on the site that covers drug-related deaths more inclusively; that table is updated roughly every six months. County staff said they want to pair updates to the public data with planning and partner conversations so the data inform interventions and so partners can confirm the metrics being used.

Sam, a staff member who asked about differences between the new display and prior versions, and other staff discussed timelines and partner data-sharing as part of an ongoing effort to provide more timely and useful information to stakeholders.

No new funding or program actions were announced during the update.