Playing politics with the plague

David Leonhardt reports:

... the per capita death toll in blue America and red America was similar by the final weeks of 2020.

And then came the vaccines. And the death toll from the virus diverged in line with political leanings.
 

Click to enlarge.

In order to undermine a Democratic administration whose standing depends on ending the pandemic, Republican politicians are encouraging and endorsing vaccine resistance. And that is killing off a disproportionate number of their own supporters.

The gap in Covid’s death toll between red and blue America has grown faster over the past month than at any previous point. 

In October, 25 out of every 100,000 residents of heavily Trump counties died from Covid, more than three times higher than the rate in heavily Biden counties (7.8 per 100,000). October was the fifth consecutive month that the percentage gap between the death rates in Trump counties and Biden counties widened.

Leonhardt extrapolates from present data that some combination of natural immunity from past infections, additional vaccinations, and better treatments, will reduce future death rates. This trend line won't go on forever. But as long as the virus is rampant, unvaccinated people in red areas will become the preponderance of the casualties.

A lot of people have died to serve the interests of Republican politicians. It's not extremist to conclude this a criminal atrocity.