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FACT BRIEF

Have more people in Arizona died of fentanyl overdoses than COVID-19 since Biden took office in 2021?

By Jordan Gerard
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NO

More people have died from COVID-19 than have died from fentanyl overdoses in Arizona since President Joe Biden took office.

As of Oct. 12, 2022, COVID-19 had killed 31,455 people in the state since the start of the pandemic, with about 19,000 of those deaths occurring since Biden took office in 2021. Though Arizona Department of Health Services data on opioid deaths does not specify how many overdoses were tied to fentanyl — a synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin — the total number of opioid-related deaths is still lower than the number of COVID-19 fatalities during the same period: 2,006 in 2021 and 372 so far in 2022. 

Arizona has seen an increase in opioid overdoses since 2017, when a public health emergency was declared. The Maricopa County Department of Public Health said the death rate for all synthetic opioids increased by 6,000% from 2012 to 2021.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Arizona Department of Health Services COVID-19 Deaths
Arizona Department of Health Services Weekly Opioid Data
Centers for Disease Control Fentanyl Facts
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is the state’s only independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR's mission is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable by exposing injustice and systemic inequities through investigative journalism.
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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.