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The GOP’s COVID-19 strategy did not work (but neither did the Democrats’)
By Kent R. Kroeger (March 31, 2021)
In a previous article I argued it is dangerous making simplistic partisan assumptions about which U.S. states were effective in combating COVID-19 and which ones were not. This is particularly true when the impact of COVID-19 on a state’s economy is also considered.
As Figure 1 (below) demonstrates, states able to protect their economies relatively well while keeping COVID-19 deaths rates relatively low (Quadrant A) included as almost many Red (Trump easily won in 2020) states as Blue (Biden easily won in 2020) and Purple (2020 battleground) states. Conversely, a significant number of Blue states are among the worst performers (Quadrant D) in balancing economic growth with COVID-19 mitigation efforts (e.g., New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island).
Figure 1: U.S. State GDP Growth (2020) versus COVID-19 Deaths per capita (January 1, 2020 — March 23, 2021)
Also interesting in Figure 1 is that 11 of the 12 states in Quadrant C (Better GDP Growth, High COVID-19 death rate) are Red states. The governors in Alabama…
