\u201cThat\u2019s still 38 too many people that have died of an overdose of a public health crisis and epidemic,\u201d said Daniel Tsai, director of San Francisco\u2019s Department of Public Health, at a press briefing on Tuesday. \u201cBut I want to say I am encouraged, I know we\u2019re making real progress, and I and others here are not yet satisfied about where we are and the work that we continue to have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tsai, who has been in the role since February, said the city\u2019s newly integrated neighborhood street teams are helping. This initiative, announced by Mayor Daniel Lurie in March, consolidated outreach teams across multiple city departments that were often working toward the same goals, while siloed from each other.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing a new level of collaboration between departments that\u2019s actually allowing us to help get folks who many departments are engaging with many, many, many times quickly into services, into shelter, into care,\u201d Tsai said.<\/p>\n The September numbers bring the total number of accidental overdose deaths in 2025 to 497 people, a slight improvement on 2024. At this time last year, the city had reported 508 overdose deaths.<\/p>\n Over 75% of the accidental overdose deaths in 2025 have involved fentanyl.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/10\/240903-OverdoseResponse-41-BL_qed.jpg\")