HARRISBURG – Governor Tom Wolf signed the 15th renewal of his January 2018 opioid disaster declaration on Wednesday which he says helps the state fight the opioid and heroin epidemic. The declaration will last 21 days or until the General Assembly takes action to extend the declaration by August 26.
On July 30, Governor Wolf sent a letter to the General Assembly stating his intent to renew the declaration and asked leaders to consider returning to Harrisburg to extend the declaration to allow for renewal of collective efforts around the opioid crisis. He noted that remaining programs under the declaration would be impacted by expiration, in particular, information shared with other state agencies through the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.
In a release, the Governor’s Office says preliminary numbers show there have been over 5,000 drug overdose deaths reported for 2020 through July 21, 2021. In comparison, PA saw just over 4,450 drug overdose deaths in 2019.
More information on Pennsylvania’s response to the opioid crisis can be found at pa.gov/opioids
