Covid deaths cause for caseload surge at Westmoreland coroner's office

Westmoreland County Coroner Ken Bacha said a meteoric 21% increase in the office’s caseload last year was fueled by coronavirus death investigations.

The statistics detailing the sharp increase to 3,523 cases in 2020 compared with 2,906 cases in 2019 was included in Bacha’s annual report released Monday. Deputy Coroner Josh Zappone said last year’s caseload was the highest in office history.

Bacha said the spike in investigations “was definitely due to the number of covid-19 cases.”

Through Monday, Bacha’s office reported 440 confirmed deaths for 2020, based on the decedent’s place of death being in Westmoreland County. The state department of health, which reported 736 Westmoreland deaths as of Monday, bases its statistics on residential addresses rather than place of death.

Of the confirmed deaths, 222 are males and 218 are females, with the oldest person being 106 and the youngest 36, according to coroner’s statistics. The average age of those deaths is 81, Bacha reported.

Of the 3,523 cases investigated, the coroner reported 3,252 natural deaths, including the covid-19 cases; 215 accidental; 46 suicide; nine homicide; and one undetermined.

Bacha said covid-19 death investigations have rapidly declined in 2021.

“Where we were investigating multiple deaths per day for a period, we’re now seeing only a couple every two weeks or so,” Bacha said.

December brought the most death investigations, at 468.

Among the biggest surprises in the statistics, Bacha’s report disclosed the number of suicides in the county — 46 — decreased by 10% from 2019, which had 51.

Mental health experts feared isolation and concern for finances could lead to an increase in suicides.

“I know that was a worry, and I had been in regular contact with some of our mental health advocates during the year who had concerns, like Laurie Barnett Levine, executive director of Mental Health America of Westmoreland County, but fortunately we did not experience an increase in suicides,” Bacha said.

Bacha said the suicides were the lowest number recorded since 2012.

The reduction in local suicides mirrors a national trend, according to projections by researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in a Journal of the American Medical Association article published in March. The research shows the number of suicides decreasing by almost 6%, with the number dropping below 45,000 nationwide, or 2,000 fewer than the previous year.

Despite the local and national reports of a decrease in suicide, Levine said mental health advocates do not intend to let down their guards. She noted multiple surveys among 18- to 24-year-olds last year found more reporting depression, anxiety and drug and alcohol use because of isolation during the pandemic.

“We could have a delayed effect. If you look at economic recessions in the past, the impact did not occur until one year later, as we were emerging out of it,” Levine said.

Levine noted Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, recently noted there is a heroism phase in every disaster period, “where individuals band together” to fight.

“With the vaccines being available and businesses in the midst of reopening, we could be experiencing that right now,” she said.

“Our national and local telehealth help call services that are offered 24/7 also may have had an impact, too. I can tell you that all of the call centers have experienced an increase in callers,” Levine said.

Bacha’s annual report also noted a 7% increase in accidental drug overdoses last year, to 123 cases from 115 in 2019. The largest number of drug overdoses was 193 in 2017.

Prescription overdose deaths decreased by 2% last year and heroin overdose deaths decreased 2% from 2019, but fentanyl-related overdoses increased 18% in 2020, Bacha’s report disclosed.

Homicide cases increased from seven in 2019 to nine last year.

More information about Mental Health America of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s help programs is available at mhaswpa.org.