The young Black men who were the focus of this project had been from small towns and rural communities in Georgia, an area of persistent poverty for Black residents that coincided with the nation’s worst educational, economic, and health disparities by race. Black residents accounted for more than 50% of Georgia’s COVID-19 deaths, despite comprising less than a third of the state’s population. The state’s rural areas had a death rate 1.5 times that of its large cities. NIAAA had reported that alcohol use had increased since pandemic precautions (e.g., shelter-in-home, social distancing) had been implemented. Among rural Black men, it had been hypothesized that alcohol use might accelerate the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in settings and interactions in which they were likely to become infected or to infect others.

The project had also examined the predictors of alcohol use. Many low-income Black men lived below or near the federal poverty level and had few financial resources, including economic assets to use during a protracted pandemic. Economic hardship had been exacerbated by racial discrimination, family stress and conflict, fears of exposure to unsafe working conditions when work was available, and the greater likelihood that they, their families, or their friends would be affected directly by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Pandemic-related stressors had been expected to foster the onset of alcohol use problems and the amplification of existing problems. Importantly, many men had coped well, avoiding alcohol misuse by drawing on both personal and social coping resources to deal with stress without alcohol use.