News We really did buy more alcohol during the early pandemic, study finds

[thegreenhand]

We really did buy more alcohol during the early pandemic, study finds​

Sandee LaMotte
CNN
15 Dec 2021

The great Covid-19 lockdown of March to June 2020 created more than a run on toilet paper, masks and hand sanitizers. A new analysis of alcohol sales in a sampling of American states has found panic buying of hard liquor and wine also spiked. Sales of beer, however, remained steady or slumped in most states.

"Understanding how alcohol purchase behavior is changed by events such as Covid is important because heavy alcohol use is known to be associated with numerous social problems, especially within the home," said study coauthor Brian Quigley, aresearch assistant professor of medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo in New York.

"Our findings suggest the need for a more comprehensive policy relating to alcohol availability, as to whether it should be considered an 'essential' product," said study coauthor Yingjie Hu, an assistant professor in the department of geography at the University at Buffalo.

Read the full story here.

 

[thegreenhand]

I don’t think I agree with the professor quoted at the end… alcohol is certainly essential for people who have become dependent on it. Do we want them flooding emergency rooms for lorazepam instead? Maybe we do, but probably not during a pandemic that has filled hospitals to capacity

 

['medicine cabinet']

I manage a medium sized liquor store and we didn't close a single day during all of this...if we had closed the liquor stores people would be lined up at the hospital with dt's taking beds from ppl who are really sick, when all they need is their bottle of Burnett's or pinnacle.