Deaths linked to excessive drinking surged during COVID-19 pandemic: CDC

Deaths linked to excessive drinking surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The study in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that the average annual number of deaths from “excessive alcohol use” rose by around 30 percent from 2016-2017 to 2020-2021. In the same period, the average annual number of deaths from “excessive alcohol use” rose by around 27 percent for men and 35 percent for women.

“During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–2021, policies were widely implemented to expand alcohol carryout and delivery to homes, and places that sold alcohol for off-premise consumption (e.g., liquor stores) were deemed as essential businesses in many states (and remained open during lockdowns),” the authors of the study wrote.