By the numbers: America’s alcohol-related health problems rising fast

In the pit of the pandemic, with no one to see and nowhere to go, and horrors unfolding daily outside the front door, there was for many a reliable bright spot: the 5 p.m. drink that would mark the end of the workday.

Drinking, which was already on the rise before 2020, became a coping mechanism for overburdened parents, burnt-out workers, the traumatized, and the bored. There was a beer, wine, spirit, or seltzer for every occasion: game nights, weddings and birthdays over Zoom, socially distanced happy hours, and too many nights on the couch watching a TV show about tigers.
— Read on www.statnews.com/2024/06/27/alcohol-related-health-problems-rise/