October 31, 2022

No tricks, voting matters

I try to avoid politics in my writing. I want people to read and consider what I have written so they learn from reliable sources. However, the COVID-19 Pandemic was accompanied by a Disinformation Pandemic that exacerbated the issues. We all suffer because of those lies.

If you don’t think voting matters, think again. Data confirms who we vote into office and our news sources can be deadly.

Now data confirms that politics mattered when faced with a deadly disease. Where you lived mattered, who your governor was mattered. What political party you vote for mattered and where you get your news mattered.

Nature magazine has compelling data that watchers of cable news, specifically FOX News, were less likely to be vaccinated and more likely to die from COVID. Areas that had higher news watchers of FOX had higher death rates.

Also, data shows that COVID death rates were higher in Republicans than Democrats.

In the beginning, blacks and urban areas had the highest rates of COVID deaths., That has changed and now Whites are more likely than Blacks to die of COVID.

Why is that? Not just because people watching FOX news were less likely to be vaccinated, they were also less likely to wear masks and use social distance as protection. The Republican leaders and their media downplayed the dangers and ridiculed mask wearing and vaccination.

This all could have been different. We could have had so many less deaths and disability. The US as a nation could have worked together to decrease deaths with masking and vaccinations. The Republican leaders failed us and their followers.

Please vote. Our health depends on it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/coronavirus-us-cases-deaths/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/10/19/covid-deaths-us-race/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-20350-0

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-death-rates-higher-republicans-democrats-why-rcna50883