At a time when COVID-19 was cutting lives short across the country, another pandemic was unfolding. Between July 2019 and July 2020, nearly 84,000 Americans died from accidental drug overdoses. That’s the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a single year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Compare it to the 12 month period ending in July 2019, when more than 68,000 Americans died.