General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPro-Trump counties now have far higher COVID death rates. Misinformation is to blame
:snip:
The analysis only looked at the geographic location of COVID-19 deaths. The exact political views of each person taken by the disease remains unknowable. But the strength of the association, combined with polling information about vaccination, strongly suggests that Republicans are being disproportionately affected.
Recent polling data that show Republicans are now the largest group of unvaccinated individuals in the United States, more than any other single demographic group. Polling also shows that mistrust in official sources of information and exposure to misinformation, about both COVID-19 and the vaccines, run high among Republicans.
"An unvaccinated person is three times as likely to lean Republican as they are to lean Democrat," says Liz Hamel, vice president of public opinion and survey research at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health policy think tank that tracks attitudes toward vaccination. Political affiliation is now the strongest indicator of whether someone is vaccinated, she says: "If I wanted to guess if somebody was vaccinated or not and I could only know one thing about them, I would probably ask what their party affiliation is."
:snip:
Deadly consequences
The consequences for individuals are real. Mark Valentine still remembers when his brother called him to tell him he had contracted coronavirus. Valentine is a trial consultant in North Carolina. His brother Phil, 61, was a well-known conservative talk show host in Nashville, Tenn., who often expressed skepticism about vaccination.
Neither brother was vaccinated, and neither one was particularly worried about Phil's positive result. His brother said he was trying several alternative therapies commonly promoted in conservative circles. "He said, 'I've got the ivermectin, I started it this morning, and I don't think it's going to be a big deal,' " Mark Valentine recalls. "And frankly I didn't think about it anymore."
But a week later, Mark said he got a call from his brother's wife saying that the two were going to the hospital. "Before I knew it, he was in there and I couldn't get to him, couldn't talk to him," Valentine recalls. "His situation took a nosedive like you can't believe."
Phil Valentine died in August about five weeks after he announced he had tested positive for COVID-19.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/12/05/1059828993/data-vaccine-misinformation-trump-counties-covid-death-rate
ProfessorGAC
(65,211 posts)It's DISinformation!
Misinformation shares a common syllable with MIStake.
The bad information those folks are getting is intentionally wrong. There's no mistakes being made.
dchill
(38,546 posts)ProfessorGAC
(65,211 posts)Now, you got to do both!
dchill
(38,546 posts)Texaswitchy
(2,962 posts)A lot of them are into dirt now.
Really.
RockRaven
(15,012 posts)Instead of saying misinformation is to blame, why not say that their hateful selfish behavior is to blame, because it leads them to seek out, and then also spread, misinformation?
Initech
(100,104 posts)CrispyQ
(36,527 posts)I'm past sympathy for these assholes as we go into year three of this pandemic. In June, our country's 7-day average of new cases day was approaching 10K, for the entire country! That was an incredible accomplishment for the Biden administration!
DUer marybourg posted 3820 new cases today in Arizona. One state, one day.
https://democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1038
FakeNoose
(32,777 posts)... the GOP loses voters
... Faux Noise loses viewers
... counties and states lose tax-payers
... companies lose employees
... families lose grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins, etc.
When Repukes die, almost everybody loses something.
magicarpet
(14,175 posts)Cure Covid.
Raftergirl
(1,294 posts)bif
(22,759 posts)Response to tenderfoot (Original post)
traitorsgalore This message was self-deleted by its author.
bucolic_frolic
(43,311 posts)'They're all out to get you! Force you to vaxx! Use the government to try to save your life! From a hoax! Stand your ground!'
Johnny2X2X
(19,118 posts)Even in the Biden counties, the people who are dying are almost exclusively Trump voters. Right now it's incredibly skewed, and going county by county doesn't properly convey that.