A day after issuing a public health emergency in New Haven, authorities came out to warn drug users of a deadly mixture of drugs that killed two and hospitalized more than a dozen more.
The New Haven Fire Department began receiving calls about overdoses around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, according to Asst. Fire Chief Matt Marcarelli.
At one point during the day, emergency crews responded to a parking lot with five patients overdosing at the same time. They were not breathing and two of the victims were in cardiac arrest, Marcarelli said.
Police officers and EMS crews administered naloxone, commonly referred to as Narcan, in an attempt to revive the patients.
“Some were given 3, 4 and 5 doses of the antidote kit to attempt to revive them,” Marcarelli said. “Whatever the product was that we were dealing with was stronger than what we were typically encountering.”
Most of the cases occurred in the city's Newhallville section, police said.
By 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, emergency crews were receiving multiple calls about overdoses and city officials decided they needed to issue a public health emergency.
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Doctors at Yale-New Haven Hospital treated more than 20 victims on Thursday and believe the people may have taken fentanyl mixed with some other drug which was causing "havoc with people's lungs," Dr. Gail D'Onofrio said. She said they were waiting for lab confirmation that the drug was fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that D'Onofrio said is 100 times more powerful than heroin.
While it appeared the crisis involved heroin users that were overdosing, authorities said all of the victims who they've interviews said they believed they were buying cocaine, but got the tainted mixture instead.
"I want cocaine users to be forewarned," U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly said. "When they think they are buying just cocaine, they are not in these cases. The cocaine that they thought they were buying was, in fact, a lethal opioid."
In response to the rash of overdoses, the State Department of Public Health sent 700 doses of Narcan to New Haven to replenish supplies.
