"It should come as no surprise that the highest rates for covid-19
deaths and murders are found mainly in red states. A political mind-set
that prioritizes racial resentment, anti-science zealotry and
manufactured cultural wedge issues is not likely to be conducive to
long, healthy lives. Indeed, antagonism toward “elites” (e.g., experts) often impedes common-sense measures that save lives.

Steven H. Woolf, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, writes
in the Journal of American Medicine: “Disparities in health across the
50 states are growing, a trend that began in the 1990s. For example, in
1990, life expectancy in New York was lower than in Oklahoma, but the trajectories separated sharply in the 1990s and, by 2016, New York
ranked third in life expectancy, whereas Oklahoma ranked 45th.”
Moreover, “the widening gap cannot be explained by changes in the racial
and ethnic composition of states, because the same trend occurred within
racial and ethnic groups.”

Instead, Woolf says the politics of red states is killing their
residents. “Conservative governors increasingly use preemption, the
authority to override local governments, to block liberal health
policies (e.g., indoor smoking bans),” he notes. “States have preempted local regulations on nutrition (e.g., menu labeling, food deserts) and,
as of 2013, 45 states had enacted statutes to limit local firearm regulations.”

This is also true of public health measures to address covid-19, making residents in red states more likely to die of the disease than others:

Some elected officials made a political issue out of challenging
scientific evidence, embracing dubious theories, and labeling public
health safeguards as infringements on personal freedom. Conservative
governors used preemption to reverse efforts by mayors and school
districts to control local transmission rates.

These policy choices may have been associated with increased
COVID-19–related morbidity and mortality. States that rushed to curtail lockdowns in the spring of 2020 experienced more protracted surges in infections and disruptions to their economies. In 2021, excess deaths
were disproportionately concentrated in states where resistance to
COVID-19 vaccination was prevalent. For example, excess death rates in
Florida and Georgia (more than 200 deaths per 100 000) were much higher
than in states with largely vaccinated populations such as New York (112
per 100 000), New Jersey (73 deaths per 100 000), and Massachusetts (50
per 100 000). States that resisted public health protections experienced higher numbers of excess deaths during the Delta variant surge in the
fall of 2021. Between August and December 2021, Florida experienced more
than triple the number of excess deaths (29 252) as New York (8786),
despite both states having similar population counts (21.7 million and
19.3 million, respectively).

Eight of the 10 states with the highest covid death rates adjusted for
age have Republican governors: Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, Arizona, Arkansas and Indiana. (Nevada and Kentucky are the exceptions, coming in 6th and 10th, respectively.) Similarly, nine of
the 10 states with the worst vaccination rates — Wyoming, Mississippi, Louisiana, Idaho, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio, West Virginia and
North Dakota — have GOP governors. Of these, only Louisiana is led by a Democrat, and all of them voted for defeated former president Donald
Trump in both 2016 and 2020."
[snip]

"Whatever the specific reason, it’s clear the governing philosophy of right-wing states (e.g., low spending; prioritization of cultural wedge
issues; anti-elitism) leads to deadly results. Maybe it’s time they stop spending their political energy persecuting gay kids, banning books,
outlawing abortion and fanning culture wars. They have plenty of
systemic problems they’ve failed to address while busying themselves
with MAGA crusades. Red-state voters should look around and see why
their states have fallen so far behind in so many categories."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/17/living-in-red-states-can-be-life-threatening/

TB

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