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Condom Sales Down 40 Percent During the Pandemic, Study Says Almost as Low as Our Libido

The past couple of years have been weird for sex lives. Forget getting naked – we’re deathly afraid to even be in the same room, sharing air with strangers if they aren’t masked and standing at least 6 feet away from us!

So it will come as no surprise that condom sales have fallen abysmally since the pandemic began. Malaysian condom maker Karex claims its sales fell a whopping 40 percent over the past 24 months. While that brand name might not sound familiar to you, it actually produces over 5.5 billion prophylactics annually in 140 countries around the globe and supplies other rubber companies like Durex.

“A large portion [of condoms] is distributed by governments around the world, which have reduced [distribution] significantly during COVID-19,” CEO Goh Miah Kiat told Nikkei.

Though it might seem like quarantine was the perfect excuse for couples to stay in and smash, that didn’t turn out to be the case. (Familiarity breeds contempt and all that.) What’s more, Kiat says the Covid-related closures of hotels and motels meant fewer people had privacy to fornicate.

And of course, sex workers were put out to pasture at the pandemic’s peak, meaning that johns didn’t need to wrap up their, well, Johnsons.

In other words, it was the perfect storm for sexlessness. The good news is that condom sales seem to be rebounding, indicating that people are getting back out there – and getting it on again.

Now if only our libidos could get a boost…

Cover Photo: Javier Zayas Photography (Getty Images)

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