AND 4 DEAD –
April 30, 2024 – Christa Steadman, ATCEMS public information officer, said officials suspect the “outbreak” is due to “a new batch in town” likely from the same source or same couple of sources due to the similarities of symptoms among patients. Overdose patients range in age from 20s to 50s and across racial/ethnic groups.
The surge of calls began around 9:00 a.m. CT Monday morning and were concentrated in the downtown area, Angela Carr, EMS division chief at ATCEMS, said during a Monday evening press conference. Calls later began coming in from around the city, including residences, businesses and in areas accessible to the general public.
Carr said a team was immediately deployed to the area, and Narcan rescue kits were distributed. Narcan is given as a nasal spray and the active ingredient in the medication — naloxone — can quickly restore breathing if someone is experiencing an opioid overdose. The trend that we’re seeing in this group of overdoses is that it is unusually deadly,” she said during the press conference. “We’ve not experienced overdoses of this volume in several years.”
