"Now, there are more COVID-19 deaths in red counties than blue counties, an effect largely attributable to lagging vaccine uptake in red counties prior to the Delta wave."
I have a lot of respect for you work in molecular genomic analysis, but you totally goofed on this statement.
Without adjusting for confounding variables like age, obesity rates, and socioeconomics, these differences between red and blue states is little more than a curiosity.
A 2016 article in the NYT written in the same vein ("The Pathway to Prosperity is Blue") used statistics of college education rates, average household income, and health indicators as "evidence" that Democrat policies generated a better quality of life.
What these foolish authors had failed to take into account is how poor people and retirees move from blue states to red states in search of lower costs of living and jobs (high-paying blue collar jobs are much scarcer in blue states due to excessively high minimum wages mandates and regulations that kill small businesses). Let's face it, not everyone is cut out for college.
This exodus of poor people out of blue states may play a major role in these demographic differences, which in turn, affect COVID mortality.
"Now, there are more COVID-19 deaths in red counties than blue counties, an effect largely attributable to lagging vaccine uptake in red counties prior to the Delta wave."
I have a lot of respect for you work in molecular genomic analysis, but you totally goofed on this statement.
Without adjusting for confounding variables like age, obesity rates, and socioeconomics, these differences between red and blue states is little more than a curiosity.
A 2016 article in the NYT written in the same vein ("The Pathway to Prosperity is Blue") used statistics of college education rates, average household income, and health indicators as "evidence" that Democrat policies generated a better quality of life.
What these foolish authors had failed to take into account is how poor people and retirees move from blue states to red states in search of lower costs of living and jobs (high-paying blue collar jobs are much scarcer in blue states due to excessively high minimum wages mandates and regulations that kill small businesses). Let's face it, not everyone is cut out for college.
This exodus of poor people out of blue states may play a major role in these demographic differences, which in turn, affect COVID mortality.