The Patriot Post® · COVID-19 Hitting Blue States Harder Than Red States
An interesting observation has become apparent amidst the raging debate over reopening versus remaining shut down. That observation: Democrat-controlled states and counties have experienced on average nearly three times more COVID-19 deaths than have Republican dominated regions.
As Reuters reports, “U.S. counties that voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election reported 39 coronavirus deaths per 100,000 residents, according to an analysis of demographic and public health data,” whereas “in counties that voted for Republican Donald Trump, 13 of every 100,000 people had died from the virus.”
While much of this disparity can be explained by the fact that Democrats run most of the nation’s largest and most densely populated cities — the perfect environment for spreading a virus — this reality only buttresses the argument against continuing overly broad statewide restrictions.
Further exacerbating blue-state residents’ pain is the increasing economic toll the shutdowns have created, all while red states were less affected and their reopening has yet to produce the expected massive spikes in COVID-19 infections. The Wall Street Journal notes, “Nearly two-thirds of leisure and hospitality jobs in New York and New Jersey and about half in California and Illinois disappeared between February and April compared to 43% in Florida, which was among the last states to lock down and first to reopen. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also provided exemptions for lower-risk businesses including contractors, manufacturers and some retailers. Four percent of construction workers in Florida lost their jobs compared to 41% in New York, 27% in New Jersey, 17% in California and 11% in Illinois.”
In short, blue states are experiencing the worst from both the coronavirus itself and Democrats’ overly aggressive response to it, which is killing their economies. No wonder the political divide is particularly acute with this pandemic.
Sometimes graphs are too dumb for words. Pew Research in other words: “Hey, at least infection rates in Democrat districts are declining faster!”