The Daily Valet. - 3/23/22, Wednesday

✔️ A Spike and Some Sobering Stats

Wednesday, March 23rd Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

What are you listening to these days?

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

Alcohol-Related Deaths Spiked

Alcohol killed more Americans under the age of 65 than COVID in 2020

A new study led by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reveals that alcohol-related deaths were up by 25% in 2020 from the year before—an apparent result of the stress, anxiety and isolation brought on by the pandemic.

We all remember the early days, right? I don’t like thinking about COVID season 1, because it was a fraught time. What might’ve started as innocent Zoom happy hours, devolved into binge drinking for some. And increased emergency room visits for alcohol withdrawal for others.

According to Intelligencer, alcohol-related deaths, ranging from alcohol poisoning to liver disease and accidents, have been crawling upward over the past two decades with an average annual increase of 3.6% between 1999 and 2019. But the stark jump from 78,927 deaths in 2019 to 99,017 in 2020 confirms studies showing that people drank more to manage pandemic stress.

And it reveals the toll of the disrupted treatment programs and abandoned support networks that were a byproduct of pandemic-mitigation measures. “The assumption is that there were lots of people who were in recovery and had reduced access to support that spring and relapsed,” study author Aaron White told the New York Times.

Experts believe that drinking may have also increased due to bar closures during the rounds of lockdowns. After all, people drinking at home are much less likely to regulate their consumption. They feel safe with nowhere to go and the alcohol is a lot cheaper, of course.

The largest increase in alcohol-related deaths in 2020 was among young adults ages 25 to 44—a group that recorded a nearly 40% rise over the previous year. Those with children at home faced additional stress as they balanced working from home and learning, while those without children may have faced more isolation and loneliness, an epidemiologist (who was not involved in the study) told National Review.

↦ FYI: The alcohol-related deaths went up for everybody—men, women, as well as every ethnic and racial group.

Russia’s Combat Forces Have Shrunk

The Pentagon say Russia’s “combat power” has dipped as Ukrainians push back

Ukraine has withstood Russia's unprovoked invasion for four weeks now. Putin's military hasn't captured any major city yet and Ukrainian forces have mounted a counteroffensive they say has retaken ground outside Kyiv.

According to the Associated Press, there are fears that Russia could use chemical or nuclear weapons as its invasion becomes bogged down in the face of logistical problems and fierce Ukrainian resistance.

President Biden is heading to Europe today for a series of global summits, where he'll huddle with key allies for even more aggressive economic actions against Moscow. So far, the punishing Western sanctions haven't stopped Putin; it's unclear whether the new steps expected this week, including sanctions on hundreds of members of Russia's lower legislative body, will be different.

Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, said the president would coordinate with allies on military assistance for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia. He added that Biden is working on long-term efforts to boost defenses in Eastern Europe, where more countries fear Russian aggression.

↦ FYI: Donated clothes help in Ukraine. But here’s one thing aid experts like better.

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Most Medical Debt Will Be Erased From Credit Reports

The decision was announced by the three largest private credit reporting agencies

Three of the country's largest credit reporting agencies are removing nearly 70% of medical debt from consumer credit reports, the companies announced in a joint statement.

The decision was preceded by a recent report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that questioned the value of medical debt as a predictor for credit trustworthiness. That report also showed that Americans had racked up $88 billion in medical debt as of June 2021. It's the most common debt collection on credit records, the bureau said.

To help lessen the burden—which often severely affects Black, Latinx, young and low-income spenders—the agencies announced new policies, stating that medical debt that's paid in full will no longer show on reports (eliminating billions from consumer records) and that unpaid debt will only be added after a year (previously, it'd been six months).

What's more, in the first half of 2023, the three agencies said they will stop reporting any medical collection debt below $500. That could be helpful, considering the size of the average past due medical bill was $429, according to a recent review in the medical journal JAMA. Adults between the age of 35 and 64 were the age group most likely to say they had at least $250 in medical debt, according to researchers who analyzed 2019 U.S. Census Bureau data.

↦ Dig Deeper: Do you have medical debt? When it gets removed, here’s what that means for your credit score.

Would You Like a Listening Room?

Dedicated spaces for listening to vinyl are popping up everywhere

If you follow our Instagram, you might've seen a very stylish bar in Brooklyn that was designed specifically for optimal sound. But it appears that people want to bring that vibe home with them.

Vinyl sales are at a 30-year high, and those with impressive collections are creating dedicated listening rooms to reset moods, quell anxiety and get lost in an atmosphere of sound.

Outfitting a viable listening space is a matter of layout and science, according to Architectural Digest. Room size and ceiling heights need to be considered, of course, along with speaker choice and placement. “Ideally a good place to start is an equilateral triangle,” explains Adam Wexler, founder and owner at Resolution Audio Video. “Listeners' ears are the same distance from each speaker as each speaker is from one another.”

As for what speakers to outfit your listening room with, there are plenty to choose from. But Bang & Olufsen just reimagined their iconic turntable from 1972, which comes with a walnut record cabinet and matching Beolab 18 speakers.

↦ Other Options: From Bluetooth to wired, portable to freestanding, Billboard rounds up the best speakers to enhance your home sound system.

In Other News

↦ Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson Faces Intense Questioning on Second Day of Confirmation Hearings

↦ GM Is Having a Made-In-America Moment

↦ Are Advertisers Going to Infiltrate Our Dreams?

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Secondhand shopping

Endangered sounds

Panic rooms

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