laklak wrote: ↑Mon Dec 20, 2021 4:43 pm
Hermit wrote: ↑Mon Dec 20, 2021 4:11 am
You need to look at the data on a pro rata basis,
We still rank 13th in the list based on the most current data I can find. Of the 12 states with a higher death rates per million, 4 are Blue, 8 are Red. We're better off than New York, New Jersey, Arizona, and Massachusetts. The next 3 states below us are Blue (Rhode Island, Michigan, Pennsylvania) and are within 70 deaths per million of our numbers. If I could link the excel sheet I made up I would.
What source are you looking at? According to
worldometers Florida has the 9th highest Covid death rate. Looking at
all states you'll find a preponderance of states with Republican governors at the high end and a preponderance of states with Democratic governors at the low end.
1 Mississippi 3482
2 Alabama 3335
3 New Jersey 3235
4 Arizona 3231
5 Louisiana 3210
6 New York 3037
7 Arkansas 2968
8 Georgia 2919
9 Florida 2896
10 West Virginia 2881
11 Massachusetts 2877
12 Oklahoma 2865
13 Rhode Island 2824
14 South Carolina 2816
15 Michigan 2778
16 Pennsylvania 2767
17 South Dakota 2750
18 Indiana 2731
19 Montana 2693
20 Nevada 2688
21 New Mexico 2660
22 Tennessee 2634
23 Kentucky 2631
24 Texas 2603
25 North Dakota 2598
26 Wyoming 2595
27 Missouri 2564
28 Connecticut 2525
29 Iowa 2434
30 Ohio 2398
31 Illinois 2393
32 Kansas 2372
33 Delaware 2302
34 Idaho 2276
35 California 1923
36 Maryland 1862
37 Wisconsin 1832
38 North Carolina 1823
39 Minnesota 1815
40 Virginia 1771
41 Colorado 1760
42 Dist. Columbia 1709
43 Nebraska 1705
44 New Hampshire 1350
45 Oregon 1311
46 Washington 1278
47 Alaska 1251
48 Utah 1155
49 Maine 1072
50 Hawaii 757
51 Vermont 724
laklak wrote: ↑Mon Dec 20, 2021 4:43 pm
So does it help to lockdown, mask, etc? Probably, but there are lots of factors. Is is worth the reduction in personal freedom and economic dislocation? Not in my mind. YMMV.
Yes, wearing masks does inhibit the spread of the virus. Yes, there are many factors determining the spread/containment of the pandemic. Yes, my view concerning the reduction in personal freedom and economic dislocation differs from yours. Personal freedom stops at the point where it adversely affects the welfare of others. Not wearing masks is just one example. There are too many selfish and/or deluded people to leave the wearing of them to individual choice. They need to be compelled by enforcible laws to wear them.
As for the shrinkage of the economy, that is the price of inhibiting the death rate. The virus is here to stay, but each new strain, while spreading more aggressively than the previous one, is less fatal. Eventually it will be like the influenza. In the US millions of people will get sick each year, about 3-400,000 of them will need hospitalisation, but only 5-20,000 will die, rather than the 42,000 each month that died from the Coronavirus between May 2020 and November 2021. There will be no more lockdowns. We'll just get our annual rona shot along with the flu injection and carry on as normal.