If you listen to the media, you would think that Republican states are experiencing the highest percentage of Covid-19 deaths, and that this is because Republican governors were not severe enough in their lockdowns or because they lifted lockdown restrictions too early. States like Georgia, Florida, and Texas have routinely been accused of botching the handling of the pandemic and causing unnecessary death.
Based on my limited knowledge of some stats, this narrative caused my bologna detector to go off, so I decided to do a little research. I wanted to see if there is any correlation between the severity of a state’s lockdown, political parties, and the number of Covid-19 deaths. Given the media narrative, I expected to find Republican states with non-severe lockdowns topping the list, such as Florida, Texas, and Georgia. What I found is that the truth is quite the opposite. Democratic-run states with more severe lockdown restrictions top the list of Covid-19 deaths per capita.
When treating NYC separately from NY state (as most data centers do because of the unique nature of NYC), I found that 9 of the 10 states with the highest death toll per 100,000 residents are blue states, not red states. And 8 out of those 9 blue states ranked in the top half of the lockdown severity ranking.[1] Of the top 26 states with the highest death percentage, 15 fell in the category of being the most stringent on lockdowns. Not only does this show us that there is no direct correlation between the severity of lockdown and deaths, but it also shows us that the spreading of Covid-19 cannot be blamed on Republican governors.
Democratic New Jersey has the second highest death rate per 100,000 people, and is ranked as having the second most severe lockdowns. Why isn’t the media focusing on New Jersey? Why aren’t they pointing to New Jersey as evidence that lockdown restrictions are not the answer to this health crisis? That doesn’t fit their narrative.
Why doesn’t the media call out Republican Massachusetts (the only Republican-run state in the top 10)? It has the fourth highest death rate and the fourth most severe lockdowns. That doesn’t fit their narrative.
Instead, they focus on Florida, Georgia, and Texas – states that actually rank pretty good on the death list .Georgia ranks #16, Florida #25, and Texas #32. Texas is particularly interesting because it is also ranked #6 in lockdown severity. Why doesn’t the media point to Texas as evidence that lockdowns work? While Texas would fit their narrative about lockdowns, it doesn’t fit their narrative that Republicans are responsible for Covid-19 deaths.
Ironically, while the media lambastes Republican states for their handling of the pandemic, they praise the governor of NY for his handling of the crisis despite the fact that NYC ranks #1 in death and NY state ranks #7. If you don’t detect a bit of media bias at this point, your bologna detector probably isn’t working right (or perhaps, you’ve turned it off). The media bias is both obvious and appalling. Unfortunately, the media cannot be trusted anymore. They have ceased reporting the news and asking the hard questions, and have become propaganda centers for their own political viewpoints. What’s the lesson here? Think for yourself. Do your own research.
See the data for yourself:
State | Death Rate per 100,000 | Governor’s Party | Lockdown Severity (1 = most severe, 50 = least severe) |
New York City | 279.6 | Democrat | 22 |
New Jersey | 177.1 | Democrat | 2 |
Connecticut | 123.5 | Democrat | 16 |
Massachusetts | 123.3 | Republican | 4 |
Rhode Island | 94.8 | Democrat | 15 |
Louisiana | 79.7 | Democrat | 31 |
New York | 79.1 | Democrat | |
Michigan | 64.1 | Democrat | 23 |
Delaware | 59.9 | Democrat | 11 |
Illinois | 59.6 | Democrat | 24 |
Maryland | 56.9 | Republican | 13 |
Pennsylvania | 55.6 | Democrat | 3 |
Mississippi | 50.1 | Republican | 39 |
Arizona | 45.8 | Republican | 8 |
Indiana | 43.3 | Republican | 33 |
Georgia | 33.2 | Republican | 37 |
Colorado | 31.5 | Democrat | 5 |
New Hampshire | 30.2 | Republican | 17 |
Alabama | 29.8 | Republican | 36 |
New Mexico | 29 | Democrat | 10 |
South Carolina | 28.8 | Republican | 43 |
Minnesota | 28.7 | Democrat | 25 |
Ohio | 28.2 | Republican | 28 |
Florida | 27.1 | Republican | 30 |
Iowa | 26.2 | Republican | 46 |
Nevada | 25 | Democrat | 27 |
Virginia | 24.4 | Democrat | 12 |
California | 21.1 | Democrat | 1 |
Washington | 19.8 | Democrat | 21 |
Missouri | 19.3 | Republican | 40 |
North Carolina | 17.1 | Democrat | 7 |
Texas | 17 | Republican | 6 |
Nebraska | 16.4 | Republican | 38 |
Kentucky | 15.6 | Democrat | 26 |
Wisconsin | 15.4 | Democrat | 49 |
Tennessee | 14.2 | Republican | 35 |
South Dakota | 13.8 | Republican | 50 |
Arkansas | 13.2 | Republican | 42 |
North Dakota | 13 | Republican | 41 |
Oklahoma | 12.6 | Republican | 48 |
Kansas | 11.2 | Democrat | 34 |
Maine | 8.9 | Democrat | 20 |
Vermont | 8.9 | Republican | 9 |
Utah | 8.6 | Republican | 47 |
Idaho | 8.3 | Republican | 45 |
Oregon | 6.8 | Democrat | 19 |
West Virginia | 5.7 | Republican | 18 |
Montana | 4.3 | Democrat | 29 |
Wyoming | 4.3 | Republican | 44 |
Alaska | 2.7 | Republican | 32 |
Hawaii | 1.8 | Democrat | 14 |
[1]Death counts are taken from the Centers for Disease Control COVID Data Tracker as of July 26, available from https://www.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases. Lockdown severity ratings are taken from Wallethub, “States with the Fewest Coronavirus Restrictions”; available from https://wallethub.com/edu/states-coronavirus-restrictions/73818/; Internet; accessed 26 July 2020.
July 30, 2020 at 8:56 am
I appreciate Jason and this blog tremendously, but I don’t think this is the forum for a purely political piece like this. To me, while interesting, this is not a theological or philosophical musing. These days I surely love any respite from political and COVID-19 talk, and I think this site could be such an oasis. Just my humble opinion.
LikeLike
July 30, 2020 at 12:22 pm
President Donald Trump, is responsible for most of the COVID related deaths:
calling criticism of his ineffective, delayed response;
a hoax;
media exaggeration;
failure to take responsibility;
failure to implement Testing Protocol;
failure to implement “point-of-Test” results;
refusing to support FDA Guidlines on Masks;
pushing an ineffective hydroxychloroquine drug as treatment for COVID;
AND, Trumps & Son sharing Doctor/Minister video,alien DNA,Sex with Demons in sleep
The doctor from a viral COVID-19 video shared by President Donald Trump this week has previously stated that DNA from space aliens is being used in medicine and that humans have sex with demons in their sleep.
Stella Immanuel, the physician featured most prominently in the video by a group called America’s Frontline Doctors, has made the claims in articles and video sermons posted on her website. She is both a pediatrician and a religious minister in Houston.
What more does anybody need to know, not believe, that the supernatural nonsense of Donald Trump appeals only to Religious Right Republicans who touted Donald Trump as the Chosen One, God-Send, during the 2016 Election? Any more?
Need More?
https://fox5sandiego.com/news/coronavirus/doctor-in-virus-video-shared-by-trump-has-preached-on-alien-dna-sex-with-spirits/
LikeLike
July 31, 2020 at 5:28 pm
Jeremy, I’m sorry to disappoint you. The post is not about politics per se, but media bias. I see it primarily as an exercise of critical thinking. My goal was not to make either political party look good or bad, or even to weigh in on the efficacy of lockdowns (although I have strong opinions on this), but rather to provide an example of obvious media bias and lack of critical thinking.
LikeLike
August 3, 2020 at 5:41 pm
“If you listen to the media, you would think that Republican states are experiencing the highest percentage of Covid-19 deaths, and that this is because Republican governors were not severe enough in their lockdowns or because they lifted lockdown restrictions too early. States like Georgia, Florida, and Texas have routinely been accused of botching the handling of the pandemic and causing unnecessary death.”
The large and coastal cities were hit first and hit hard (especially NYC), thus causing blue state deaths to climb rapidly and early. They largely locked down to various degrees, thus causing the death rates in those blue states to drop considerably. Unfortunately, because of the lack of federal guidance on a coordinated national response, the lockdowns were patchwork, which is only as strong as the weakest link. Furthermore, under pressure from the current administration, states began opening up too soon and too quickly, resulting in increased deaths.
Meanwhile, it was only a matter of time before the coronavirus infected the red states. By and large they didn’t take the threat as seriously as the blue states, and since then they have indeed been hit hard, resulting in escalating COVID-19 deaths. Currently Florida, Georgia and Texas (among other mostly southern and coastal states) have escalating deaths, as shown here: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-deaths-united-states-each-day-2020-n1177936.
So if you look at the TOTAL deaths, you’re right, New York, California, Massachusetts and New Jersey have the highest death totals. But if you look at the deaths over just the last seven days, Texas, Florida, California, Louisiana, Georgia, Arizona, Ohio and South Carolina have the highest death counts. THAT is what the media has been pointing out because THAT is the greater concern for determining how well the pandemic is being managed (well, that and death RATE, since the largest states can have higher numbers of deaths while still having a relatively low death rate compared to smaller states). Just looking at the total deaths doesn’t take into account the states that were hit hard initially but have since managed to substantially lower the death rate.
Without a strict national policy at the federal level, we are in for a long and painful upcoming months of the pandemic that won’t go away until an effective vaccine is developed AND distributed to the vast majority of the population.
LikeLike
August 5, 2020 at 7:58 am
Good observations, Jason. Your findings are also corroborated by other sources as described in COVID and the Red States.
LikeLike
June 30, 2021 at 5:16 pm
[…] a year ago, I explored the notion that Republican-led states (known for being more relaxed in the area of Covid […]
LikeLike