Alcohol: Ally or enemy of containment?
- There are no coronavirus drugs and it will certainly not develop until next year. People who are at home, sick or healthy, have no choice but to alleviate the damage caused by illness or confinement. And if it serves to wash your hands, the alcohol will also serve inside. The increase in global alcohol sales indicates that we think something like this.
Alcohol in Iran killed more than 600 people, presumably curing the coronavirus. Although alcohol is prohibited in many parts of the country, a drink with high alcohol concentrations was illegally produced and sold. In total, more than 3,000 people have had to be treated for the damage caused by this drink.
However, despite the fact that Iran is the result of a dangerous domestic attempt to find a cure for the disease, experts in other countries of the world have warned that alcoholism may increase. Alcohol sales data show this. Although in the first weeks of confinement the population acquired essential material, it soon began to increase the consumption of alcohol associated with leisure.
In the United States, for example, sales of wine grew by 27.6%, while sales of beer or barley products increased by 14%. These data are, in part, normal, as the US Government has qualified alcoholic beverage stores as "essential services" for their consumption. In total, more than half of Americans over the age of 18 have consumed alcohol in the past 30 days.
Australia has followed a similar path. The sale of alcohol in the country has increased by 34%, as the alcoholic beverage stores were emptied before they knew if they were going to be declared as commodities. Experts say that the consumption habits of the population have changed, as drinkers only on weekends drink now every day for bad day or boredom.
In search of solutions
Vladimir Putin has been fighting to reduce alcoholism in Russia since 2003 and is doing so: the latest statistics show that alcohol consumption has dropped by a third compared to that year. But the isolation of the home has turned this data around. The sale of vodka increased by 65% in the last week of March.
Faced with this situation, and in order to combat the violence that has begun to provoke alcoholism, several Russian provinces have banned the sale of alcohol and others, particularly in the rural areas most affected by the problems of alcoholism, have limited them.
With uncertainty
In times of uncertainty it is common for people to feel frightened and drifted, according to the Association of Addiction Centers EE.UU. Alcohol.org. In these cases, it is normal for alcohol consumption to grow as a solution to cope with this dramatic situation. Ironically, alcohol consumption makes the population vulnerable to COVID-19, as people with alcohol addiction are more vulnerable to respiratory diseases.
