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Given the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic, it isn’t surprising that drinking alcohol has risen dramatically over the past year. You or someone you know has probably ordered liquor online, become very fond of ready-to-drink cocktails or thrown a Zoom quarantini party.
A spike in alcohol use, however, has also raised health concerns about a rise in heavy drinking among those — particularly women — who are struggling to cope as the pandemic wears on.
Total alcohol sales outside of bars and restaurants surged roughly 24 percent after the pandemic restrictions began in mid-March 2020, according to a Nielsen marketing report that NPR cited in September; sales of liquor with higher alcohol content grew by 27 percent. Drizly, an online alcohol delivery service, had a 350 percent jump in sales during the pandemic, a spokeswoman told NPR.