The April opioid report from the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit (CKPHU) is out and it shows Chatham-Kent (CK) continues to exceed provincial rates in opioid overdose deaths and visits to the emergency department.
Chatham-Kent Public Health reported two suspected deaths related to all drugs in April and nine during the months of February, March, and April.
Public health officials said the suspected death rate related to all drugs in CK during the first four months of this year remained 2.5 times higher than the Ontario rate at 13.9 per 100,000 in CK compared to 5.3 per 100,000 across Ontario.
There were also four confirmed or probable opioid overdose deaths in January, the latest available data due to a delay in reporting because toxicology testing and coroner investigations take longer to complete, noted CKPHU.
Based on those numbers and circumstances, the opioid overdose death rate in CK is 3.5 per 100,000 compared to 0.8 per 100,000 in Ontario, the April opioid report showed.
Meanwhile, the emergency department (ED) is seeing fewer opioid overdoses. There were 23 opioid overdose ED visits in April, an eight per cent decrease from the previous month, according to local public health officials.
CKPHU data also showed a total of 98 opioid overdose ED visits during the first four months of 2026.
Despite the modest decline in ED opioid overdose activity in April, health unit officials noted opioid overdose visits to the ED in Chatham-Kent during the first four months of 2026 (85 per 100,000) are 3.5 times higher than the provincial rate (23.8 per 100,000).
Health officials also reported that overdose EMS (paramedic) calls have increased again after having dropped significantly from February to March.
They noted that paramedics responded to 34 suspected opioid overdose calls in April, a 36 per cent increase compared to the previous month. They also had five non-opioid overdose calls that month.
According to the CKPHU data, there have been a total of 132 suspected opioid overdose EMS calls during the first four months of 2026 and 28 non-opioid overdose EMS calls.
