One year ago, we had noted that just as politicians start wars with no exit strategies (i.e., Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, etc.), so, too, with the COVID War. And we warned that the economic, social, and personal toll the lockdowns would take on citizens would be more deadly than the coronavirus.
Week after week, we have provided hard data of the devastation the COVID War has inflicted on hundreds of millions of lives and livelihoods.
Indeed, from chronic depression to spikes in suicide, from hunger concerns to the financial and emotional stress of closing down businesses, unemployment, etc., it’s clear that the effects of prolonged lockdowns have, by the numbers, caused more negative health issues than the virus itself.
The latest example is a report in the Los Angeles Times published on 8 February of hospitals and doctors across America voicing concerns over “dramatic increases in alcohol-related admissions for critical diseases such as hepatitis and liver failure.”
The cause? “Leading liver disease specialists and psychiatrists believe the isolation, unemployment, and hopelessness associated with COVID-19 are driving the explosion in cases.”
Dr. Haripriya Maddur, a liver specialist at Northwestern Medicine, said that before COVID, most of her patients “were doing just fine,” but due to the stress from the shutdown of the economy and the isolation of stay-at-home impositions, “all of the sudden they were in the hospital again.”
A Large Health Issue Made Even Worse
While alcoholism has been on the rise in the U.S. for some time, with some 15 million Americans diagnosed with alcohol-related liver disease, since 1 March, when COVID was reported to be spreading across the U.S., ensuing lockdowns led to dramatic increases. According to the report, “Specialists at hospitals affiliated with the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Harvard University, and Mount Sinai Health System in New York City said rates of admissions for alcoholic liver disease have leapt by up to 50% since March.”
Not only has the number of liver disease cases increased, but the average age of those afflicted with the disease is decreasing. The trend since last March of Americans under 40 years old showing up with jaundice and abdominal extension, both common symptoms of the liver disease, is “truly dramatic,” according to liver specialist Dr. Raymond Chung, president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease.
Dr. Maddur at Northwestern Medical also voiced concern for the new increases in adults under 40 with severe liver damage from alcohol: “They have mouths to feed and bills to pay, but no job, so they turn to booze as the last coping mechanism remaining.”
The L.A. Times article reports one out of every 20 patients with alcohol-related liver failure “die before leaving the hospital.”
Also, the disease makes people more susceptible to COVID. A study published on 4 May in the journal Gastroenterology found patients with liver disease die from COVID at rates three times higher than normal.
TREND FORECAST: As we have been reporting, the lockdowns have sucked the joy out of lives, especially for young people who have higher energy to live life on the edge. For them, being unable to “grow up” by being forced to stay home and not allowed to go to bars, clubs, concerts, enjoy college life, play sports, date… and out of work, the mental toll will spread beyond their personal lives, negatively affecting relationships with family, friends, and loved ones.
As we also have been reporting, beyond the increase in alcohol consumption, drug abuse is increasing, and suicide rates are climbing. Additionally, by being less active and staying indoors, young (and old) are eating more junk/highly-processed foods, which is affecting their physical and mental health.
When the lockdowns are lifted, the “Whole Health/Natural Healing” trend we had forecast will be an OnTrendpreneur® megatrend, as young and old evolve into a New Age 2.0 mindset to get into the best health they can… spiritually, emotionally, and physically. We estimate this market sector to attract some 20 percent of the population who will search for a higher meaning in life as they try to rebound from having been in the trenches fighting the COVID War.
