11 November 2021

Why some are now referring to the coronavirus as "red Covid"


The coronavirus pandemic initially manifested itself in the United States in "blue" (Democratic) districts - especially inner-city New York.   Some pundits have offered that fact as a reason for the then-Republican administration's slow response to the pandemic.  Skipping forward a year we find a quite different demographic pattern.
And as a result, current mortalilty rates from Covid are substantially higher in "red" states:


At the New York Times source, the data is broken down to the county level, where the differences are even more stark.  And it's getting worse:


There's additional discussion and graphs at the Gallup organization website.  They note that a large percentage of Americans frankly do not understand the risks of disease vs. vaccination.

Updated to add this graph (discussed here):

15 comments:

  1. Evolution at work, pure and simple. If you choose to ignore science, ignore logic, and ignore facts, there will be consequences. Up to and including your lives.

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  2. Per county, per capita statistics seem inherently skewed against low-pop counties that always lean red.

    Aside from that, there's more to existence than not catching COVID. You can call it "Red COVID" if you want, but it sounds like you want to blame people for the spread of an airborne respiratory virus that has largely spread exactly as you would expect it to regardless.

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    1. ??? why would "per capita" statistics skew the results? Isn't that exactly what you need to do to compare hi-population and low-population locations??

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    2. You can place the blame on the virus all you want but the people who refuse to get vaccinated are the ones contributing to unnecessary deaths. The fact that the majority of them voted for Trump is neither coincidental nor should it be ignored.

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    3. you want to blame people for the spread of an airborne respiratory virus that has largely spread exactly as you would expect it to regardless.

      Nobody is blaming anybody here. An observation is made about the spread of a virus and how that related to the behavior of people.

      You are right that the virus is spreading exactly as predicted: In areas where people do not follow the general covid safety rules: masking up, socially distance, avoid crowds.

      This is exactly how viruses always have spread, are spreading and will always spread. If you do not protect yourself, you will get sick in the end.

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    4. The consequence of less masking and less vaxing is higher hospitalization/mortality rates. The question of whether this is "worth it" for some compelling reason is another question. I can argue I'd rather die of Covid than be "forced" to mask or vax; this being a matter of principle. I don't find this version of principle compelling, but I think I can see how the position is arrived at. What I don't find reasonable is the consequence being denied--that is, more deaths. As if, because a principle is at stake and actions are in accord, there must be science validating the actions as having no negative outcome. I'd think there would be more openness to thinking the outcome is negative, but a sacrifice was made--often the case where principle is concerned. Maybe there is a principle saying I should be "free" to burn all the fossil fuel I want. Does it then follow that there must be science proving there is no negative consequence? Maybe my claim on principle simply rises above the concern for the consequence--as opposed to insisting it disappear.

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    5. Reposting since I think the last one got eaten by blogspot

      The problem is that you're comparing counties, which have wildly varying population levels. I'll use an extreme example to illustrate the problem.

      Cheyenne County, Colorado has a population of 1,748. Los Angeles County has a population of 10,014,009. If Cheyenne county has a single case of COVID, their case rate per 100k citizens is approximately 57. If LA county has less than 5707 cases, then they can say that their case rate per 100k is lower than Cheyenne County. If a 2nd person is infected, Cheyenne county's rate doubles to 114. LA county needs an addition 5700 cases to double.

      So, the per 100k statistic is highly sensitive to change in low population counties. This inequality is exacerbated by the fact that Trump won several times as many low population counties as Biden. The error is reinforced and becomes the above trend.

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    6. No, the problem is you're unwilling to admit that, statistically, Trump voters are more likely to become infected and die because they're less likely to be vaccinated and more likely to behave in ways that puts their own health and the health of others at risk. This is because they're more willing to believe Trump than experts. Or they were until he told them to get vaccinated, which is not surprising, given how aggressively he'd previously pushed hydroxychloroquine and bleach.

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    7. Ooh! This is a hot post.

      Exhibit 3, above, is the real damning graph. I have largely stopped following the media and it would not surprise me if avg daily deaths and ICU occupancy are not reported on. There should be online boards posting available beds so that covid patients know where to go.

      I feel so sad for hospital staff who have to suffer dealing with the unvaccinated.

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  3. Do they hunt deer?

    https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/11/10/1054224204/how-sars-cov-2-in-american-deer-could-alter-the-course-of-the-global-pandemic

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  4. They, the unvaccinated, are the attack vector of the spread of Covid-19. Yes, it is an airborne novel corona virus. That it can still spread wildly through unvaccinated populations is nuts. Do I blame people for getting it? How can I? Do I blame them for all of the madness that their free to be sick movement has brought to America? Yes I do. The analogy I've been using lately is gambling in Las Vegas. The house has the odds in its favor, always. So gamblers know the odds and play where their odds are best. Now, if you would ask a gambler, if they could have a pass where they could never lose everything. Would they take it? Would they take the advantage being offered? What if a casino said, I'll take the deuces and threes out of the deck, would they take it? Would they take the odds being shifted in their favor?

    We are witnessing the slow erosion of what freedom means. What it means to be part of society. What it means to be a citizen.

    It is horrific and factual that this is now Red Covid.

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  5. Hmmm

    New Hampshire 76 percent increase in cases in the week ending November 7

    Georgia has the lowest per capita rate at 44 cases per 100,000 residents in the week ending November 7

    Florida has the lowest per capita death rate at 0.1 per 100,000 people after recording only 16 deaths the past 7 days. (week ending November 7)

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    1. There's been a recent spike among lots of Northern states -- both Red and Blue -- as winter approaches.

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    2. Paul in St. AugustineNovember 14, 2021 at 6:05 PM

      Florida has been obfuscating their COVID numbers for months. Our Governor is a Trump wanna-be, and he has done his best to bury the truth.

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  6. Sit data loquitur; let the data speak for themselves.

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