Hangover From Alcohol Boom Could Last Long After Pandemic Ends

НОВОРОССИЯ.RU
11 Сен 2020, 14:54

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A patron stands in front of a shelf full of wine bottles at a liquor story in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on March 20.

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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Elizabeth Marshall who lives in Upstate New York relapsed and began using alcohol while isolating during the pandemic.

Brian Mann/NPR

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Brian Mann/NPR

Elizabeth Marshall who lives in Upstate New York relapsed and began using alcohol while isolating during the pandemic.

Brian Mann/NPR

Millions of Americans at higher risk

Most at risk are the roughly 15 million Americans estimated by the federal government to already suffer from alcohol use disorder.

«I relapsed during the pandemic. I picked up that first drink and I was scared,» said Elizabeth Marshall, who is in recovery in Ogdensburg, New York.

As the coronavirus spread, therapy programs were canceled, leaving people who experience alcohol dependency isolated and scared.

«It drove my depression, like, skyrocketed it,» Marshall said. «It didn’t make sense to me how they could shut down all of the places that are trying to help and keeping going with all the alcohol sales.»

The surge of drinking during the pandemic comes at a time when Americans are already consuming more alcohol, a roughly 20% increase that began in the 1990s.

The NIAA’s Leggio says these two trends together could leave more Americans vulnerable to the coronavirus.

«People with excessive alcohol use have an increased risk of respiratory infections,» Leggio noted. «They also have an increased risk of complications relating to respiratory infections.»

The World Health Organization issued a similar warning this spring, urging governments to reconsider making alcohol widely available during the pandemic and to instead step up counseling and treatment opportunities.

«During the COVID-19 pandemic, we should really ask ourselves what risks we are taking in leaving people under lockdown in their homes with [alcohol],» said Carina Ferreira-Borges with the WHO’s Alcohol and Illicit Drugs Programme in a statement.