“The mortality gap study period occurred before the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020. After that, counties where 70% or more voted Republican had nearly 73 more COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to Democratic counties where less than 30% voted Republican. Those findings were in a separate research article, “The Association Between COVID-19 Mortality And The County-Level Partisan Divide In The United States,” published June 6 in the journal Health Affairs.”
The article cites a number of studies but just as we thought, there really is a significant difference in mortality - from a number of causes and not just covid though covid for sure stands out. People simply die more frequently in red states for a number of reasons.
The article goes on to say that this effect forces scientists to bring political leanings into their research where it applies. That’s going to fuck with the review process and publication, too. That could end up the bigger effect here - the politicization of science.
Thanks, trump and republicans. You have now impacted science itself with your skull fuckery.
Long before covid existed, Republicans have been anti-science when it comes to climate change. It's also fair to presume that Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to be vegetarians or vegans, and that could also be a factor in the overall health and life expectancy of Republicans versus Democrats.