MILWAUKEE — Wednesday marked International Opioid Overdose Day. The rate of overdose deaths across the state have continued to climb despite the best efforts of various agencies and volunteer groups to drive it down.

"The COVID pandemic threw a lot of areas across this country into a tailspin, and one of those unfortunately was substance use, and overdoses and deaths cause by substance use," Paul Krupski, director of opioid initiatives for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, said. "This is really an unfortunate trend that's been taking place nationally over the last two years."

After a record 1,231 Wisconsinites died from an opioid overdose in 2020, initial data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Wednesday showed 1,415 more Wisconsinites died in 2021, a spike of roughly 15%.

Final 2021 data is due out in November.

"Unfortunately, we have seen that significant surge and rise in overdoses and deaths in our state," Krupski added. "The real challenging factor across the board has been the emergence of fentanyl..."

Watch the full interview above.