Is alcohol "essential" for Coronavirus?

[Doc]

Why Maryland is keeping the liquor flowing as an 'essential' business during the coronavirus crisis

Montgomery County alcoholic beverage regulators are backing down on locally prohibiting bars and restaurants from delivering mixed drinks and hard liquor.

www.wusa9.com

The title really says it all. Maryland has not issued any kind of limit on liquor stores as of yet. Our neighbor, Pennsylvania, has closed their liquor stores from what I understand. Does Popmalt think that alcohol is essential? I say yes for passing time in the evenings and because addicts shouldn't quit cold turkey. Stopping can kill an addict.

What do you folks think?

 

[dDave]

Drinking alcohol is a way that a lot of people cope with stress, it's also what a lot of people do to deal with general boredom. It's not surprising that the liquor stores around here are doing so well. A lot of people simply need their booze and were afraid they weren't going to get it.

I don't think it's "essential" and find the uptick in liquor sales totally understandable but also mildly alarming. I heard the police in our area were responding to a lot more domestic violence cases than normal. Probably because everyone's stuck inside and on top of that there's a lot of alcohol consumption.

 

[ysabel]

In these times I think people will go crazy without it, haha. An added restriction. When they closed down bars here they kept supermarkets open and they sell alcohol. Oh and for some reason tobacconists are also kept open and considered "essential" although technically smoking (and drinking) are considered bad for the health.

 

[dDave]

In these times I think people will go crazy without it, haha. An added restriction. When they closed down bars here they kept supermarkets open and they sell alcohol. Oh and for some reason tobacconists are also kept open and considered "essential" although technically smoking (and drinking) are considered bad for the health.

Yeah tobacco places are open here as well as marijuana places.

It's been fascinating to see what's considered essential and what isn't. Lots of places I would have deemed essential have chosen to close on their own. One example here is a major orthopedic clinic closed its doors temporarily.

 

[ysabel]

You'd think they would at least keep all health related establishments open. Wouldn't they help in trying to lessen people's need to go to see health professionals in the busy hospitals?

 

[dDave]

You'd think they would at least keep all health related establishments open. Wouldn't they help in trying to lessen people's need to go to see health professionals in the busy hospitals?

Right, in the local case here it was the clinics decision to close, the government did not tell them to. I know someone that works there, he said a lot of his coworkers were sick. Kind of pointless to close though, everyone working there is now just working new contracts at the ER and whatnot. Not exactly helping prevent the spread. I'm sure the sick people didn't return to work so don't worry about that.

 

[Mirage]

I'm not an alcohol drinker myself (I don't mind it from time to time, I just don't like paying for it), but I understand it is hard to quit and I think there's truth to what @Doc said about quitting cold turkey. It's not essential for me, but I don't understand everyone's situation and wouldn't presume to say it's not essential for somebody else. I think far more people could get by without it than would claim it was essential for them, but that's a different discussion.