Travis County leaders to give details on 2022 overdoses, fentanyl deaths

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) -- Travis County leaders will gather Wednesday morning to give the public an update on what they call a drug overdose public health crisis in the county, and discuss details from the county medical examiner's 2022 report, which has not yet been released.

The update will cover the status of overdose deaths in the county from 2022, including those which were fentanyl-related, according to a release from the county.

Travis County leaders -- including Judge Andy Brown, Sheriff Sally Hernandez and Medical Examiner J. Keith Pinckard -- will hold the press conference at 11:30 a.m. It will be streamed in the video player at the top of this page.

Background on the fentanyl crisis, combating it

Preliminary data released in November 2022 showed in the first six months of the year, there were 118 fentanyl-related overdose deaths, meaning someone died of an overdose and had fentanyl in their system. It’s the exact same number Travis County saw in all 12 months of 2021.

At the time, Travis County paired up with Safe Haven Harm Reduction to train bartenders and get Narcan into local bars. Narcan is an overdose reversal treatment that is administered as a nasal spray and has no negative side effects if used on someone not experiencing an overdose.

Officials said in November several bars in Travis County, including Star Bar on Sixth Street, would get the training and the doses of Narcan.

Gov. Greg Abbott and state officials have also taken steps against fentanyl. Abbott launched an awareness campaign called "One Pill Kills" in October and said laws related to the drug would be considered in the 88th legislative session.

Abbott made addressing the state’s “growing fentanyl crisis” one of his key legislative priorities this session and announced more initiatives to combat the drug just weeks ago.