Leverkusen, Germany: COVID-19 Alcohol Ban Over Long-Weekend
The city of Leverkusen in Germany has announced improved measures to prevent COVID-19 spread through an alcohol ban over the upcoming long-weekend.
The Labor Day (May 1st) long weekend would usually have Germans getting together and going on holiday. To stop people from gathering during the ongoing pandemic, the city of Leverkusen has banned public alcohol use. The ban is to apply from Thursday, April 30 until Sunday, May 2.
Leverkusen Mayor Richrath is concerned as more and more people are failing to adhere to physical distancing guidelines to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Leverkusen has 161,000 inhabitants and is located in North Rhine-Westphalia, on the eastern bank of the river Rhine. It is one of the state’s smaller cities but is close to two major metropolis, to the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne and to the north is the state capital Düsseldorf. Leverkusen is known for the pharmaceutical industry giant Bayer.
The World Health Organization has advised governments to restrict access to alcohol during the pandemic and lockdown measures for several reasons. These include:
- Alcohol harms physical and mental health,
- Alcohol weakens the immune system,
- Driving under the influence of alcohol increases road traffic accidents,
- Alcohol fuels violence, and
- Alcohol related accidents, diseases and violence burdens the healthcare system and emergency services which are already burdened due to the pandemic.
Alcohol harm was already draining German resources from before the pandemic hit the country. The Yearbook Addiction 2020, published by the German Center for Addiction Issues (DHS), details pervasive alcohol harm:
- Around 74,000 deaths each year are caused by alcohol consumption alone or the combined use of tobacco and alcohol, and
- The annual economic costs of alcohol harm amount to €57 billion. But government revenue only reaches a tiny fraction of this with €3.2 billion from alcohol taxation every year.
A ban on alcohol sales or at least increasing restrictions on alcohol availability, specially during this pandemic, would go a long way to cut down avoidable hospital admissions and use of emergency services.
Germany: Alcohol Harm Continues Draining Society’s Resources
