The current way the united states is handling covid, at the state level at least, is almost completely partisan. Generally speaking, the death rate in red states is 3x the death rate in blue states. And generally speaking, most restrictions have been lifted in red states, while many restrictions remain in blue states. Essentially, people that lean right have decided that the current death rate risk from covid is at an acceptable level that they will not tolerate many infringements on their freedoms. And the people that lean left have decided that their pre-covid freedoms are so unimportant to them that even a tiny risk from covid doesn’t warrant getting them back. One side is obsessed with liberty and one side is obsessed with fear.
Obsessions aren’t a good thing. This is bad for the future of our country. If the election of Donald Trump turbocharged the political divisions of our society, then the Corona virus pretty much strapped a rocket to them.
You make it sound absolute. The reality is that that liberty is at least a little selfish and the fear is not entirely a fear for self, but also a concern for others.
At least we don’t have to argue that it’s working.
Yeah. One side is obsessed over the fear that they might not be allowed to impose extra risks and deaths on others. While the other is obsessed with liberty and personal responsibility, and not infringing on the liberty of others…
I have yet to see anyone explain how you are not infringing on the liberty of others when you are openly demanding those others can only do what you decide to allow them to. The closest thing to an explanation has been “But but but I know best and you are just an a$$hole!”, which is always an effective argument.
No. There are more regulations in blue states than mask mandates.
Maybe you disagree with my wording because liberty is generally a positive thing and fear is generally a negative thing, but you missed my point. The issue isn’t what each side is obsessed with, it’s the obsession itself.
If the red states had the vaccine uptake of the blue states, that would make their death rate almost identical. The other regulations aren’t driving the differences. If the blue states eliminated their regulations based on the metrics they claim are driving them, their death rate would still stay low and people that want their liberty back would get it back.
The people on the right that have legitimate gripes with the left and their authoritarianism would be doing themselves a huge favor if they wore a Let’s Go Brandon hat to signal their tribe instead of letting their vaccination status do it.
But not in all states, right? I think California only requires masks indoors in public. I don’t see any other requirements. Yet you lump all the blue states together as liberty haters.
Words matter. And I don’t view either as an “obsession.” I think the real problem is the polarization of every subject.
Masks work. That’s all they’ve been doing in places like Korea, HK, Taiwan. It’s probably the single most effective method at our disposal.
That’s nonsense when it’s only “red” governors making authoritarian executive orders prohibiting local government responses. Central decrees is the authoritarianism, not local government and local health agencies mounting a response.
Biden executive orders are only directives to the other departments to take a policy direction, within extent they are legally allowed. (OSHA).
Government contracts are voluntarily pursued by contractors, that’s not a mandate, it’s a condition for seeking the contracts.
Go ahead and make sound like those governors are imposing their will on their residents. Such executive orders are entirely about local governments not imposing their will on their residents.
The only reason you think your argument makes sense is that you are basing it on a very faulty premise.
Yes, I am lumping all blue states and red state together. Because GENERALLY that is where a huge divide lies. You didn’t take issue when I said that red states have a 3x higher death rate than blue states, yet that is a generalization. Why not? There are a LOT of red states and blue states that are much closer when you compare them side by side. Shouldn’t you argue that point if you are going to argue my point about restrictions on liberty as well?
Sounds like we agree. That was the point of my post.
Nope. That would be the vaccines. By orders of magnitude.
This isn’t a truthful statement.
To piggy back on @glitch99 's point, to refer to a higher authority telling lower authorities that they CAN’T force people to do things as “authoritarian” completely reverses the definition of the term.
Would you say that congress was being authoritarian when it passed civil rights laws that forced the south to abandon Jim Crow laws? Or were Jim Crow laws authoritarian? Only one can be authoritarian. Which is it? The restrictions, or the forbidding or restrictions?
The arguments that the biden admin are making to claim that OSHA has the legal authority to mandate vaccines are pretty weak. Do you think that the mandates will actually pass constitutional scrutiny by the courts? I admit, it’s pretty much a toss-up with our current court. Are you more confident than 50/50?
Trust the science, not the government? Disinfecting nasal sprays, like mouthwashes, have been found to reduce viral loads and lessen symptoms and duration of illness, especially if used early on.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in federal court against Utah-based company Xlear on Oct. 28, saying it has deceptively advertised its nasal spray as a treatment and preventative of COVID-19. The lawsuit asks a federal court to permanently ban the company from promoting the nasal spray as a treatment for COVID-19 and also asks that monetary penalties be levied against it.
Sounds plausible until you get to…
Xlear’s attorney Housman pointed out that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)—along with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services—funded clinical studies of the use of nasal sprays like Xlear’s and published findings last year that found they were an effective treatment and method of prevention for COVID-19.
“When Xlear tells people about scientific studies, even ones republished by the NIH, we are somehow misleading people and making false claims. It’s nonsensical,” Housman told The Epoch Times.
Here’s one such study with significant results for another nasal spray -
results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial which demonstrate that pHOXWELL, its novel prophylactic nasal spray, prevented infection from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In a pivotal Phase 2/3 clinical study, there were 63% fewer SARS-CoV-2 infections in high-risk healthcare workers given pHOXWELL compared to placebo (p=<0.0001).
statistics like these vary week by week and are only quoted by the left-wing media when they make Republican states look bad. Here are the latest number of cases statistics that show that the Republican states in the South are doing better than the rest of the country including Democrat states in the Northeast and North Center and Pacific coast. They are also doing better than the conservatives in the Mountain states.
The number of deaths will probably follow these case number statistics by a few weeks.
That chart is extremely misleading, and probably completely meaningless, because it shows county-level statistics, but counties have different sizes and different number of people living in them. A large, sparesly populated county in, say, North Dakota might have 1000 people living in it, and if 3 of them tested positive it would show as a big dark red spot. A small dense county in Florida or Texas might have 500,000 people in it, and 500 infections would show up as a small light yellow pixel.
It’s misleading in the same way as the county-level presidential election results, which shows that most of the country (by area) is red. But there are fewer people living in those areas than in the much denser metro areas.
I didn’t say that. The per capita rates are fine, the DISPROPORTIONAL COLOR GRAPH is not. Just because some parts of some states are shown in a dark red, it doesn’t mean that the overall per capita rate in that state is worse than in some other state where most of the territory is shown in a light yellow.
Look at California. All those orange and purple counties hardly have anyone living in them. The most populated counties barely register a color. Yet if you just look at the image you’d think CA is doing worse than all of the southern states. That may or may not actually be the case – there is no way to determine it from this graph. It is meaningless.
Especially so because the argument in the tweet is talking about states. It is not talking about counties. This graph may be useful if they claimed that counties with fewer restrictions are doing better than counties with more restrictions (or vice versa). They show you a picture that doesn’t correspond to their claim. Do you really not see this?
Yeah, you’re right. It’s not like each state is comprised of those counties or anything.
But my point was more about how for 18 months some (such as myself) have argued that nationwide, or state level mandates have widely varying degrees of effectiveness, specifically because of the vastly different circumstance to which it’s being applied. Yet when called out as being stupid and ineffective in numerous settings, it’s always a couple of specific circumstances that are cited as proof that it’s obviously best for everyone. But now when a finger is being pointed in the wrong direction, my perspective is put front and center.
The same concept applies to those who cry “But 700,000 deaths! We all need to panic!”. Ignoring the fact that a vast majority of those deaths are attributed to certain circumstances that simply do not apply to most people. But suggest that a majority of people face a mortality rate that is a small fraction of the aggregate rate, and you are labeled a MAGA nut with a death wish.
The chart shows the average daily cases per 100,000 people. It may be reported on a county by county basis but the statistic is per capita. that is not misleading at all.
Edit. The plot is not misleading by population. Noticed that the mountain states that all have low population density have high per capita numbers
On the other hand, there have been (and will be many more) deaths caused by covid that are attributed to certain circumstances that were caused by covid.
