CLEVELAND — For the second straight month the number of people dying from suspected drug overdoses continue to rise in Cuyahoga County.
Preliminary numbers from the medical examiner's office list 51suspected overdose deaths in February. Investigators are waiting on test results from another 30 deaths.
Those 51 drug deaths bring the total number of people dying from suspected overdoses to 108 through the first two months of 2019, which is 46 percent more deaths than the same period a year ago.
Based on January and February, early projections from the medical examiner's office put the county on pace for 737 overdose deaths this year. If that happens, it would be the deadliest year for overdoses in more than a decade.
In the first six days of March, Cuyahoga County had 17 people die of suspected drug overdoses.
