AUSTIN, Texas — Travis County leaders gave an update on Tuesday regarding efforts related to the county’s opioid crisis declaration, which is in effect until October 2026.
The first declaration was made in May 2022, but officials say the situation has only gotten worse. Last year, the declaration was extended.
At Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting, Travis County Health and Human Services staff presented their latest report on opioid abatement investments.
They say the county has distributed more than 20,000 doses of Narcan since 2023 and plans to invest up to $450,000 in new harm reduction services.
They said last year, Austin-Travis County EMS saw more than 1,100 calls for overdoses and nearly 900 emergency room visits related to drug overdoses. In 2023, the medical examiner reported 478 accidental fatal overdose deaths.
“The medical examiner’s report will come out, I think, at the end of April,” said Laura Peveto, division director at Travis County Health and Human Services. “We’ll then be able to see specifically the overdose deaths, the area of deaths, whether we’ve had a decrease. We contacted their office and they’re working on that now, and so we anticipate that will be one way. We’ll also have updates regarding the EMS responses from the APH [Austin Public Health] dashboard and do some comparison against the quarter of last year in ’24.”
Right now, Travis County leaders say they’re working closely with Austin Public Health and Central Health to coordinate their efforts with Central Health investing nearly $5 million in treatment services.