Stop making covid a red vs blue state thing
The Delta variant is quickly spreading in a growing number of countries. Today, it’s being reported as the predominant strain in the US.
It’s more contagious than the original strain of covid (the one that killed hundreds of thousands of people). Current vaccines are less effective against it. And yet, a lot of people don’t think it’s a big deal, and health and elected officials seem to be giving that impression overall too.
In the US, I think one of the most dangerous narratives, even among left and progressive media, is the focus on the fact that the problem is now mostly a “red state” problem: states that voted for Trump are doing worse and are more at risk than the “blue states” who voted for Biden.
Let me make clear that the facts appear to largely support that red states are generally more at risk for a number of reasons, including much lower vaccination rates overall, BUT I think that this way of framing it is very problematic for several reasons.
Data from several countries now indicate that current vaccines are much less effective against Delta that other variants. In Israel the effectiveness of two doses of Pfizer against covid infection went from 94% before the delta variant was prevalent, to 64% now when it is — and after Israel eased covid guidelines.
That’s a *huge* drop in effectiveness. We don’t know long-term effects of covid (there are many long-haulers who still haven’t fully recovered), so any infection — even if not fatal — is dangerous in terms of health risks to the person who catches it and the risk of community spread.
2. Saying delta is mostly a red state problem will create a false sense of security for people in blue states. There’s a good chance that a lot of people reading these headlines think, “I’m in a blue state, so I’m good.” Let’s just let those MAGA idiots spread it to each other if they don’t get vaccinated.
Blue states aren’t safe — they’re less at risk. The current rates are roughly those that had the country start to panic back in March 2020. Without nationwide herd immunity, and new variants coming, I don’t think it’s a good idea to get complacent.
Plus it’s NOT just red states. Connecticut is one of the top five states where delta is spreading the worst. There are blue cities in red states, and red cities in blue states. St. Louis is one of the most liberal cities in the country historically, but is in red-state Missouri. It’s much too broad a stroke.
Source: The Hill
Not to mention that there aren’t magical borders that keep covid from crossing state lines. I live in Tennessee, next to Arkansas where cases have started rising again. Am I “safe”?
3. Children under 12 are still not able to get vaccinated. Dr. Fauci is warning that children are likely to be one of the biggest populations at risk for the delta variant for this reason. Children in blue states will likely be less at risk of catching it than children in red states — but do we want any children catching or dying of covid when it could be prevented or mitigated?
4. Almost everyone agrees that not acting quickly enough, as a country and the world at large, made the alpha variant of covid much more widespread and resulted in many more deaths than it could have been if we’d acted pro-actively instead of reactively.
With the World Health Organization and a growing number of experts calling for caution, continued social distancing, and mask-wearing even among vaccinated people (who aren’t as protected against the delta variant as previous variants), shouldn’t we be better prepared this time and keep or strengthen restrictions, instead of following the UK’s crazy decision to go ahead with lifting restrictions even as covid cases and deaths start to skyrocket there again?
I hate wearing masks. I hate not going to restaurants, malls, work without having to worry about covid. But I also hate the idea of thousands, tens of thousands, or more people needlessly dying — including lots and lots of children — just because I and other people are tired of covid.
It’s not just a red versus blue state thing. We *all* need to do our part to keep our communities, our friends, our families, our children safe.
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