Alcohol will not be a pal of social distancing

By On May 11, 2021

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay reporter

TUESDAY, May 11, 2021 (HealthDay News) – According to researchers, maintaining adequate social distance from strangers – an important preventative measure of COVID-19 – can be difficult when drinking alcohol.

In a new study, researchers placed more than 200 young social drinkers in a variety of social settings in laboratory settings. They drank either alcoholic or soft drinks.

Half of the cases, participants drank with a friend, said director of research Catharine Fairbairn, professor of psychology at the University of Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign. The other half drank with a stranger.

Those who had alcoholic beverages were given enough to get intoxicated.

Friends tended to get closer to each other whether or not they consumed alcohol, but “Participants who interacted with a stranger only moved closer to that person when they were drunk. The physical distance between these couples decreased down by about 1 centimeter [nearly half an inch] per three-minute interval, “Fairbairn said in a university press release.

Those who drank soft drinks with strangers didn’t get much closer, the researchers found.

According to study director Laura Gurrieri, a psychology researcher at the university, “this study shows that, over time, alcohol decreases the physical distance between people who were previously unknown. This finding is particularly important in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic because it suggests alcohol could facilitate virus transmission and hinder compliance with social distancing guidelines. ”

Study participants’ ability to approach each other was somewhat limited as they sat at a table across from each other and the study was conducted in a quiet, spacious laboratory rather than a bar, Fairbairn said.

“People would probably get even closer in a crowded bar with loud music compared to our lab environment,” she said. “That should be the subject of another study.”

The report was published on May 10 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

To prevent the transmission of COVID-19, it is recommended that you stay 6 feet away from anyone who does not live with you.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is more concerned with social distancing.

SOURCE: University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne, news release, May 10, 2021

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