CORONAVIRUS: “President Donald Trump blamed ‘blue states’ for increasing the nation’s death rate from coronavirus, suggesting that if ‘you take the blue states out’ of the equation the United States would be far more competitive with other countries…
New York, California, and New Jersey – all widely considered blue states in the presidential election – were among the states with highest number of deaths from coronavirus. But they are also the states with the largest populations in the country, and they were the first to experience and tackle major outbreaks of the disease.
Other states with a high number of deaths include Texas, a red state, and Florida, a battleground. Those states are also among the nation’s most populous.
The picture is slightly different when normalized for population: New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts had among the highest death rates per 100,000 people, according to Johns Hopkins University. But red states and battlegrounds, such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Arizona and Michigan were also in the top ten.
Democrats slammed the president’s response, noting that blue states are part of the nation, too.”
-John Fritze and David Jackson, “Trump blames ‘blue states’ for increasing nation’s coronavirus death rates, ignores high rates in red states,” usatoday.com, Sep. 16, 2020