A lot of Americans apparently picked up boozing habits while stuck in their homes during the pandemic, according to the Daily Mail, a U.K.-based tabloid (see story here).
Their source is vaguely-described studies. One of these showed “at-home drinking ‘spiked’ in 2020 and held strong in 2021.” Another showed U.S. adult alcohol consumption jumped 37% in the early months of the pandemic, when many people weren’t going to work and lockdowns were prevalent.
Lockdowns and mass layoffs are only a memory now, but, “Many people have continued drinking at home to save money, as inflation hikes up prices of beer, wine, spirits and other groceries,” Daily Mail says.
Drinking also goes hand-in-hand with depression, and it’s a safe bet the pandemic has left a lot of depressed people in its wake (although disappointed Trump voters seem more belligerent than depressed).
One of those studies estimates $5.4 billion of increased health care costs, over half of that for “hospital visits for cirrhosis of the liver.” Meanwhile, the federal agency that tracks alcoholic abuse reports over a 25% jump in drunk-driving deaths from 2019 to 2020. It’s fair to say the increased drinking will lead to more domestic violence and murders, too.
Better not go walking in alleys for a while (see story here).