Sumter Item Newspaper Article: February 9, 2021

Tandem Health All in Recovery (AIR) Manager, Kathy Cheek, speaks about the increase in Opioid Overdose during COVID-19.

Tandem Health All in Recovery Manager Kathy Cheek said, “The AIR Program has seen an increase in patients across Sumter County because of COVID-19 effects”

The All in Recovery program saw a higher rate of relapse this year than in previous years.

"What we have seen actually is a lot of relapse," Cheek said. "With COVID comes depression. People get depressed, and they relapse."

"A lot of people use alcohol and drugs to do what is called self-medicate. It makes them feel better for a little while," Cheek said. "When they sober up or the high is gone, then they're still facing reality again of whatever problems they wanted to escape from in the first place."

With limited social interaction and distractions, Tandem Health witnessed firsthand how COVID-19 affected an addict's routine which normally helped keep addiction under control.

For more information, go to: https://www.theitem.com/stories/sumter-county-state-dhec-agencies-say-opioid-overdose-epidemic-worsened-by-covid-19,358937?fbclid=IwAR1I_ZqUovPx-POfANBNcEEMTHTgXP0R-h44VDQdQZ6hK2b32ND7GUIPrVM