San Francisco Chronicle:

Fifty-eight more people died of drug overdoses in San Francisco last month, bringing the yearly total to at least 621. That compares to 441 deaths in all of 2019.

The latest numbers put San Francisco on track to losing nearly two people a day by the end of the year and dwarf the 173 deaths from COVID-19 the city has seen so far this year.

The drug crisis has been exacerbated by fentanyl, a powerful opioid that can be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.

The numbers come a day after the Centers for Disease Control reported 81,230 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States in the 12 months ending in May 2020 — the largest number of drug overdoses for that length of time ever recorded and a sign the epidemic is getting worse around the country.