Within six hours of losing access to alcohol, withdrawal symptoms ranging from the shakes, vomiting, hallucinations or seizures can send people with alcoholism to hospital intensive care units.

With 15 million people in the United States dependent on alcohol, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, banning liquor sales might flood already overwhelmed hospital emergency rooms with countless thousands of additional patients.

Asked this week why Arizona decided liquor sales are essential, Patrick Ptak, the spokesman for Gov. Doug Ducey, issued a statement: “In making all our decisions during this time, we have relied on the advice of public health officials. We have also sought to have the least amount of interference on people’s daily lives and on the economy…”

Source: Why states keep liquor stores open as an ‘essential service’