The CDC's overdose dashboard did not refresh on Friday. The 12-month provisional total for the period ending December 2025 — 68,632 drug overdose deaths, a 14% decline from the prior year — is still the working figure into Memorial Day. The next monthly print is due in mid-June. [1][2]

The plain-English version of "the overdose counter": the CDC publishes a rolling 12-month death total each month, called the Vital Statistics Rapid Release. "Provisional" means the agency has not yet received and audited every death certificate from state coroners; final figures historically run 5% to 8% higher than the first print. So 68,632 is a floor, not a final number. The trend the agency stands behind — three consecutive yearly drops, the smallest U.S. overdose count since 2019, fentanyl deaths down sharpest — is what the household-policy debate has to start from. [1][2]

The paper's May 21 brief took the position that a counter without a caveat is a press release, not a statistic. Friday's no-update extends the position by another week. State-level breakdowns showing which jurisdictions are still not seeing the decline — the report quietly notes South Dakota and Nevada moved slightly upward — remain the next layer the dashboard owes the reader. [3]

-- NORA WHITFIELD, Chicago