The alcohol ban did it work?

Beer and wine are engrained deep in the cultures of many countries, and SA is no exception. Celebrations, sports games and other events traditionally include an alcoholic beverage of some kind. There is nothing wrong with having a drink as long as you are responsible and of the appropriate age – but it is essential to be a responsible consumer of alcohol.

The South African government made the polarising decision to ban alcohol in certain periods during the lockdown, because of all of the alcohol-related incidents that usually affect the ER. This is especially true of trauma units on the weekend and big days like during the festive season.

The argument was that the trauma unit beds were needed for the increase in the number of COVID patients who needed them.

And it seems that it worked.

Ban

The government’s ban on the sale and transport of alcohol during lockdowns 5 and 4 was to free up hospital beds, resources and medical personnel who usually spend their weekends on trauma duty at all the country’s hospitals, stitching up, bandaging and detoxing marauding binge-drinkers who either injured someone else or themselves in scenes of domestic violence, bar or street brawls and drunk-driving accidents.

In hospital and clinic trauma units across the country, some highly intoxicated patients assault medical personnel. And frankly, hospitals could not afford to have medical professionals booked off with work-related injuries while the virus threatened the whole world.

South Africa, along with Kenya, Hong Kong and Spain, was one of the few countries that banned alcohol sales as part of their contingency plans to combat the coronavirus.

They’d taken into account a World Health Organization (WHO) advisory that when it comes to the coronavirus, it is best to have no alcohol or very little as:

Any alcohol, especially heavy consumption as is the custom in South Africa, weakens the immune system.
That one dop and the next two or more for the road are going to reduce the ability to cope with infectious diseases.
The liquor can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome as is seen, especially in the Western Cape, when heavy drinkers get respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis.
It can result in domestic violence where women and children are the main casualties.

The Medical Society can service thousands of people in need of primary medical care every day.

Now, people who have been previously disadvantaged and are at a disadvantage for healthcare have the opportunity to get first level care from highly trained professionals.

Our low-cost policies do allow us to reach the millions of South Africans who battle to receive medical attention when they need it.

State of the nation’s toxic relationships

South Africans and their toxic relationship with alcohol have long been on the WHO’s radar.

To this end, the WHO released a report in 2018, based on a 2016 South African Government report, which notes these figures: 31% percent of the population 15 years and older, drink. Of these, 59% are heavy or binge drinkers who are more than likely to end up further burdening vital healthcare services with up to 40% of emergency hospital admissions.

Of their suppliers, the report notes that only about 60 000 liquor outlets are licensed, while some 120 000 are not, and 26% of alcohol is made illegally in someone’s kitchen or backyard.

Did the lockdown bans work?

Despite reports of police using brute force to lay down the law with errant drinkers and those caught smuggling alcohol during the level 5 lockdown and then crushing country-wide protests with might during the second level 3 lockdown ban in July 2019, the SA Medical Research Council reports the figure of 42 000 alcohol-related trauma cases treated at all the country’s trauma units every week dropped dramatically by two thirds – 60% -70% during the first level 5 ban.

It freed up some 10 000 beds for virus-infected patients and the medical staff to treat them.

After the unbanning of alcohol sales for household use in June, while all restaurants, taverns and bars remained shut, the number of trauma unit admissions spiked.

With the mid-year level 3 lockdown alcohol ban, the Western Cape Health Department reports:

A 40%-50% drop in alcohol-related trauma admissions at all their health facilities.
In July, when the alcohol sales ban was lifted, daily alcohol-related admissions at trauma centres rose dramatically by 62%.
While the spike in alcohol-related trauma admissions to intensive care units is a staggering 350%.
Traffic accident deaths doubled in July.
And reports from the Eastern Cape indicate that during the brief period when the ban was lifted in June, death from trauma rose by about 300%.

Currently, the country has just come out of its third alcohol ban under level 3 lockdown, which was in force during the second wave of the infection’s peak during the festive season.

Outcomes

The bans freed up medical resources, which remain under severe strain with many medical professionals being infected and dying from the virus.

However, the bans on alcohol sales have led directly to the loss of income for the alcohol industry, licensed restaurants and taverns, exacerbated by business closures and jobs losses. With the alcohol industry out of action, the government loses more than R640m in tax revenue a month from that sector. The alcohol industry leaders continue to institute court action against the government.

And the dop remains king as illegal home brewing gains popularity and with that, death continues to come via alcohol poisoning.