Alcohol, Masks and Social Distancing

When Covid-19 first came into the news, I wrote a blog post about alcohol, masks and social distancing.  Now that many cities across the US are opening up, my thoughts on this subject are even clearer. At first I was vaguely skeptical about people who drink alcohol or use other drugs on a regular basis following the virus guidelines. As it turns out my suspicions were right. 

We’ve seen many pictures and videos of full bars across the nation where people were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing. Also, it’s likely that all the pictures and videos of full beaches depicted the same problem, people drinking alcohol and violating guidelines for safety. Not everyone who goes to the beach drinks alcohol, but many do, and many drink enough to impair their judgment.

That’s the problem: judgment. I haven’t heard one in-depth report that highlighted alcohol as one of the main culprits in the recent spike of new Covid-19 cases. You would think this is a great opportunity to inform the public of alcohol abuse and alcoholism, and to urge people with a problem to seek help. And, there should be direct guidelines  related to attending and drinking alcohol in large gatherings even for people who don’t have a drinking problem. It’s life threatening when large groups get together and violate all the guidelines. Even if you are trying to follow the guidelines, if most aren’t, that puts you at risk. No one wants to fiddle with a mask when they’re drinking, and they don’t want to talk six feet apart, so all that goes out the window in bars or other gatherings that include alcohol. Alcohol, as we all know, affects judgment, so after a few drinks you begin not caring so much about safety, you become unreasonable, and you take risks — alcohol slowly shuts down reason and good judgment.

I would love to see one news report that puts it all out on the table, so that maybe some people who heed the call would think beforehand and not put themselves in such risky and life-threatening situations.