Alcohol deaths ‘exploded’ during the pandemic, new CDC data reveals

Alcohol-related deaths in the United States surged at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic as people tried to cope with multiple stressors. — Dreamstime/TNS

Deaths caused by alcohol use have been climbing in the United States for nearly 20 years, but rose dramatically at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to data released last week by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alcohol-related deaths increased by 26% from 2019 to 2020, rising from 10.4 deaths for 100,000 people in 2019 to 13 for every 100,000 people in 2020.