Should booze be restricted? It’s putting world at greater risk of COVID-19, WHO says

The World Health Organization rattled booze lovers Wednesday with an alert in Europe calling for governments there to set an example and restrict access to alcohol during coronavirus lockdowns.

Alcoholic drinks compromise the immune system, the WHO warned, and intoxicated people take unnecessary risks that can put them in danger of contracting a virus blamed for about 140,000 deaths worldwide as of Thursday.

Then there’s this: “Fear and misinformation have generated a dangerous myth that consuming high-strength alcohol can kill the COVID-19 virus. It does not,” the WHO said in the same press release.

Americans reacted to the idea of restrictions the way Americans typically react when things get personal.

“Alcohol being restricted during the coronavirus pandemic should be viewed as an act of war against people who love freedom,” Daily Caller Editor-in-Chief David Hookstead wrote Thursday. “Even though I am a peace loving man, I will go Clint Eastwood in a heartbeat in order to save our alcohol supply.”

Broad restrictions on alcohol sales in the United States have not been proposed, though Pennsylvania famously closed all state-owned liquor stores early in the pandemic. Some hard-hit cities and counties have also limited convenience store alcohol sales, including multiple communities in New Mexico.

Sales of alcoholic beverages in the nation rose drastically in March as the virus prompted stay-at-home orders, including a 55% rise during the third week of March, reports MarketWatch.com.

Industry experts refer to that period as “Week 12,” when panicked shoppers rushed stores and bought all the toilet paper, hand sanitizer and frozen pizzas they could hold.

Beer flew off grocery store shelves, too, and there is anecdotal evidence people went for their old favorites — “comfort beers” — rather than experimenting with something new.

“If they were going to be stuck at home, they wanted to be stuck with something they knew and liked,” Lester Jones of the National Beer Wholesalers Association told McClatchy News.

Bars were closed across the nation for safety reasons, but governors in many states “deemed liquor stores, wineries, distilleries and other providers of alcoholic beverages as essential businesses,” Axios.com reports.

So why is the World Health Organization in Europe suggesting limits on alcohol consumption?

For starters, Europe “is the region with the highest alcohol intake and the highest prevalence of drinkers in the population,” the WHO said in a release.

If limiting alcohol works there, it might work elsewhere, experts guess.

“Alcohol consumption is associated with a range of communicable and noncommunicable diseases and mental health disorders, which can make a person more vulnerable to COVID-19,” the WHO reported Wednesday.

“In particular, alcohol compromises the body’s immune system and increases the risk of adverse health outcomes. Therefore, people should minimize their alcohol consumption at any time, and particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Should booze be restricted? It’s putting world at greater risk of COVID-19, WHO says."