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Fewer Americans are boozing after a massive COVID-19 spike — and a surprising generation is leading the way

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Oliveira, A. (2026, September 22). Fewer Americans are boozing after a massive COVID-19 spike — and a surprising generation is leading the way. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/09/22/us-news/fewer-americans-are-boozing-after-a-massive-covid-19-spike-and-a-surprising-generation-is-leading-the-way/

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New York Post · collected 2026-09-22 · by Alex Oliveira

Quick Summary

A new study from USC Los Angeles shows that alcohol consumption in America dropped for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with heavy drinking decreasing by 8% and overall drinking dropping by 2% from 2022 to 2024. However, this trend is not uniform across age groups; while Millennials report a significant decrease in heavy drinking and Gen Z shows an overall decline in alcohol use, Boomers and Generation X continue to drink at or above pre-pandemic levels. Dr. Brian P. Lee, who conducted the study, noted that younger generations are quitting alcohol at higher rates than older ones, which could be due to changes in societal norms around drinking during the pandemic.
Written by AI on 2026-09-22, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Americans are drinking less for the first time since the pandemic, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine by researchers at Keck Medicine of USC in Los Angeles. The decline is modest, around 1%, after heavy alcohol use spiked sharply during the pandemic years 2020-2024. However, drinking habits have not declined evenly across all age groups: while both heavy and occasional drinking decreased among Gen Z and millennials from 2022 to 2024, it increased in people ages 50 to 64. Specifically, heavy drinking rose by 36% between 2018 and 2024 for Boomers and Generation X, with the number of drinkers climbing 4%. Dr. Brian P. Lee noted that older generations are most at risk for liver conditions starting in their 50s, emphasizing the health risks associated with sustained heavy drinking in these age groups. Despite this decline, overall alcohol use remains higher than pre-pandemic levels, indicating ongoing public health concerns.

Written for “Alcohol Consumption Trends Post Pandemic” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Alcohol Consumption Trends Post Pandemic
Health · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Drinking finally slows after pandemic spike, but not for every age group Same event
NBC News
Hedges 2 of 20 claims Outlet record 60/100
Why Older Americans Are Drinking More Alcohol—Not Less Different event
TIME
Hedges 8 of 29 claims Outlet record 59/100
“The articles describe overall trends in alcohol consumption but refer to different time periods and studies, indicating they are discussing related but distinct events.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Health
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-22 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Alex Oliveira
52 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 52 articles by Alex Oliveira →

Topics

America Americans CNN Millennials USC Los Angeles’

Subjects

Lee PERSON · 5× Americans NORP · 3× America GPE · 1× Boomers NORP · 1× Brian P. Lee PERSON · 1× CNN ORG · 1× Jagpreet Chhatwal PERSON · 1× Millennial NORP · 1× Millennials NORP · 1× USC Los Angeles’ ORG · 1×

Narrative

But both Boomers and Generation X continued to drink at pre-pandemic levels — with heavy drinking rising 36% between 2018 and 2024 while the number of drinkers climbed 4%. “We’re seeing the biggest increases in heavy drinking in exactly the group that we’re worried the most about in terms of their health related to alcohol,” Lee said, noting people are most at risk for liver conditions beginning in their 50s.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-22
🔮 “Overall, I would not see this as a big victory in any way because the rates have been so high, even before the pandemic.”
2026-09-22 · New York Post
Fewer Americans are boozing after a massive COVID-19 spike — and a surprising generation is leading the way · assertive framing

Claims (19 extracted, 0 hedged)

Americans are finally starting to feel the boozy hangover from COVID-19. asserted
Americans → start → COVID-19
Alcohol consumption in America dropped for the first time since the pandemic, a new study found — but older generations are still boozing at elevated rates. asserted
generations → drop → rates
Instead, it’s Millennials who are reporting less heavy drinking. asserted
who → ’ → drinking
Gen Z, meanwhile, is quitting altogether. asserted
Z → quit → ?
Alcohol drinkers — anybody who had even a single drink over a year — fell by 2% from 2022 to 2024, a recently published study from USC Los Angeles’ Dr. Brian P. Lee found. asserted
study → have → Lee
Heavy drinking — five drinks daily or 15 weekly for men, and four daily or eight weekly for women — dropped even more, slipping by 8% during that time. asserted
drinking → drop → time
“Seeing this first decline gives you something to hope for as a doctor, but you have to be appropriately cautious too,” Lee told CNN. asserted
Lee → see → CNN
“One change doesn’t necessarily mean a sustained trend.” asserted
change → mean → trend
Lee’s study supported his caution — despite the recent declines, people were still drinking at higher rates in 2024 than they were in 2018. asserted
they → support → 2024
He first identified a spike in pandemic drinking in a 2024 study which found the portion of Americans who drink increased about 3% between 2018 and 2022 — rising from 66.34% before the pandemic and 69.3% after. asserted
who → identify → pandemic
And while drinking overall was now creeping down overall, that wasn’t the case for everybody — younger people were quitting the sauce at higher rates than older folks, who continued to imbibe above pre-pandemic levels. asserted
who → creep → levels
Gen Zers — people 18 to 29 — saw all alcohol use drop 5% from 2022 to 2024, while Millennial — aged 30 to 49 — heavy drinking fell 17%. asserted
drinking → see → 2024
But both Boomers and Generation X continued to drink at pre-pandemic levels — with heavy drinking rising 36% between 2018 and 2024 while the number of drinkers climbed 4%. “We’re seeing the biggest increases in heavy drinking in exactly the group that we’re worried the most about in terms of their health related to alcohol,” Lee said, noting people are most at risk for liver conditions beginning in their 50s. asserted
people → continue → 50s
“This is a generation that really learned to drink when a few drinks a night was just what adults did,” he added. asserted
he → learn → what
“That’s something that we need to continue, with messaging, to informing people what they’re really putting into their body.” asserted
they → ’ → body
Start your day with all you need to know Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more. asserted
Report → start → news
Those fears are real — Lee reported a noticeable increase in patients with liver conditions at his own office since the pandemic. asserted
Lee → report → pandemic
And while the declines found in Lee’s study were promising, experts cautioned it was too early to know whether Americans were really improving their habits on the whole. “This is an encouraging trend — at least there’s a change in direction,” said Dr. Jagpreet Chhatwal of Massachusetts General Hospital. asserted
Chhatwal → find → Hospital
“Overall, I would not see this as a big victory in any way because the rates have been so high, even before the pandemic.” asserted
rates → see → pandemic
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