Report; Alcohol Death Toll Is Growing

NEW YORK (AP) – The rate of deaths that can be directly attributed to alcohol rose nearly 30% in the U.S. during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s according to new government data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had already said the overall number of such deaths rose in 2020 and 2021. Two reports from the CDC this week provided further details. A report released Friday focused on more than a dozen kinds of “alcohol-induced” deaths that were wholly blamed on drinking. The rate of those had been increasing by 7% or less each year. In 2020, they rose 26%. That’s the highest rate recorded in at least 40 years.