(Columbia, SC) -- Health officials in South Carolina say opioid overdoses are increasing during the pandemic.
The director of the SC Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services says people turn to substance abuse due to increased isolation and anxiety.
From January to June of 2020, EMS teams responded to suspected opioid overdose calls 52-percent more than in the same time period of 2019.
Officials say 30-percent of those calls are heroin-related.