Two Key Facts About U.S. Covid Policy

Nate Silver points out two related facts that make for “politically inconvenient” bedfellows:

• Until vaccines became available, there was little difference in Covid death rates between blue states and red states.
• After vaccines became available, there were clear differences, with red states having higher death rates, almost certainly as a result of lower vaccine uptake among Republicans.

“In other words, the vaccines made a real and obvious dent in Covid, whereas the effect of other NPIs — such as school and business closures, masks, and social distancing — is much less clear.”