Well, we couldn't get masks or ventilators produced in time and couldn't manage nationwide social distancing even as "the curve" of the COVID-19 pandemic arched upwards to new predictions of perhaps a quarter million American deaths, but by God we will make sure Americans have enough booze. That's the lesson of myriad new state policies relaxing liquor sales and allowing restaurants to do beer and wine delivery, including the declaration of liquor stores as "essential businesses" in at least New York, New Jersey, and Maryland.
The government couldn't handle the bread part, and that's on them. But they can at least ensure Americans can put on their own private circuses.
I have mixed feelings here. The notion of millions of unwilling new American shut-ins passing bored hours with new home beer delivery services seems bad. The notion of them attempting to pass the time without those services seems ... also bad. Loosening restrictions on a purely luxury item seems petty; keeping restaurants afloat by helping them sell high-margin products during a time when a great many—perhaps the majority—are in danger of going under seems a near-necessity.
Does that work out to a net plus, then? Probably.
Whatever the case, both gun stores and liquor stores are, in various states, now "essential businesses" that do not have to abide by shelter-in-place rules. These seem to be decisions based almost entirely on lobbying power. Also, Brett Kavanaugh probably weighed in at some point.