Economic burden of drug overdose deaths before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA.

To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic burden of drug overdose deaths in the USA. Overdose death counts from 2019 to 2020 were obtained from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System. Years of potential life lost and value of statistical life were computed. The financial burden of overdose deaths increased by nearly 30%, from US$624.90 billion before the pandemic in 2019 to US$825.31 billion during the pandemic in 2020. Temporal analysis demonstrated that overdose deaths peaked in the second quarter of 2020 and contributed to nearly a third of the total 2020 value of statistical life. The authors' findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the US drug overdose epidemic.