The pandemic is triggering opioid relapses across Appalachia

(CNN)David Leone has spent the past seven months trying to stay clean. Now he just wants to stay alive.

Until a few weeks ago, Leone, 40, was a resident of the Shepherd's House in Lexington, Kentucky, where he was in recovery for an opioid abuse disorder. He left the treatment center in late March out of fear of catching coronavirus.

Shepherd's House has yet to report a Covid-19 case as of April 29 but that didn't prevent a sense of dread from spreading quickly among Leone and the 29 other residents living in close quarters at the home, he said.