Some red state governors are bragging about what a good job they did with the pandemic. Don't believe them. They are just doing what Republicans do best -- LYING!The COVID-19 pandemic did hit blue states first (especially Washington, New York, and California), so blue states initially had higher rates of cases and deaths from the virus.
But that changed about the middle of the year. And by the end of the year, the red states had the highest rate of cases and deaths.
Why? Because the blue states listened to the scientists and initiated procedures to protect their citizens as much as possible. The red states did not. They used the pandemic to play politics -- and the result was that far too many people were infected and died unnecessarily.
This is verified by a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Here is some of what that study had to say:
Results:From March to early June, Republican-led states had lower COVID-19 incidence rates compared with Democratic-led states. On June 3, the association reversed, and Republican-led states had higher incidence (RR=1.10, 95% PI=1.01, 1.18). This trend persisted through early December. For death rates, Republican-led states had lower rates early in the pandemic, but higher rates from July 4 (RR=1.18, 95% PI=1.02, 1.31) through mid-December. Republican-led states had higher test positivity rates starting on May 30 (RR=1.70, 95% PI=1.66, 1.73) and lower testing rates by September 30 (RR=0.95, 95% PI=0.90, 0.98).
Conclusion:Gubernatorial party affiliation may drive policy decisions that impact COVID-19 infections and deaths across the U.S. Future policy decisions should be guided by public health considerations rather than political ideology.
