The COVID-19 Virus Discriminates

For John, BLUF:  That is, it picks on the most vulnerable, and we need to understand the vulnerabilities in order to push back and win.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Coronavirus Is Deadliest Where Democrats Live

Here is the sub-headline:

Beyond perception and ideology, there are starkly different realities for red and blue America right now.

From The New York Times, by Reporters Jennifer Medina and Robert Gebeloff, 25 May 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

The staggering American death toll from the coronavirus, now approaching 100,000, has touched every part of the country, but the losses have been especially acute along its coasts, in its major cities, across the industrial Midwest, and in New York City.

The devastation, in other words, has been disproportionately felt in blue America, which helps explain why people on opposing sides of a partisan divide that has intensified in the past two decades are thinking about the virus differently.  It is not just that Democrats and Republicans disagree on how to reopen businesses, schools and the country as a whole.  Beyond perception, beyond ideology, there are starkly different realities for red and blue America right now.

Democrats are far more likely to live in counties where the virus has ravaged the community, while Republicans are more likely to live in counties that have been relatively unscathed by the illness, though they are paying an economic price.  Counties won by President Trump in 2016 have reported just 27 percent of the virus infections and 21 percent of the deaths — even though 45 percent of Americans live in these communities, a New York Times analysis has found.

The numbers are interesting, and as this map shows, not equally spread.  The data suggests to me that we should stop looking at the distribution as a political issue or a race issue and think of it in terms of socio-economic and cultural factors.  That is our duty as citizens.

NB:  The Coronavirus has not gone away in our area, so we need to be polite to others and protect them from infection by wearing our masks in public, by practicing social distancing and by not shaking hands or congregating in public.  It still isn't over.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff