One of the distinctive and destructive aspects of modern life is political polarization. There's simply less objective reality these days. All news and data are consumed through a partisan filter. This has been intensifying in recent years, and there have been real-world consequences. However, with the coronavirus, the effects are much scarier and tangible.
Some examples are Republicans being pessimistic about the economy from 2009-2016 despite solid gains in the stock market and economic data. However, as soon as President Donald Trump was elected, they flipped and became very optimistic about the economy despite all evidence indicating that there was little change in the underlying fundamentals. On the other side, Democrats were largely silent about President Barack Obama's number of deportations and detainments of illegal immigrants during his tenure but became outraged at this under President Trump.
Red States at Risk
Under President Trump, Republicans have become dismissive of the mainstream media and are prone to treating any criticism of the current administration as "fake news". Of course, this has been pioneered and exacerbated by President Trump.
His reflexive reaction to the coronavirus outbreak was to treat it as a political issue, labeling it as a "hoax" to attack his administration. His supporters and other officials in the Republican party followed his cue. However, in recent weeks, Trump has shifted his tone and started treating the crisis with more gravity. It's slowly filtering down to his base and the rest of the party.
Democrats and blue states took the crisis much more seriously and started enacting stay-at-home orders early in March. Many red states like Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama have been much slower to respond and still have not enacted aggressive measures. This means the virus is potentially still spreading in these states, and the worst is yet to come. These states also rank highest in terms of obesity, diabetes, and smoking rates. All of these factors have been shown to make people more vulnerable to the virus.
Based on experiences in Washington, New York, and Italy, stay-at-home orders seem to be effective with a two to three week lag in flattening the curve to give hospitals a fighting chance to deal with the surge in patients. Unfortunately, warnings from public health officials were interpreted through the lens of the culture war. The costs of this will likely be significant in terms of human life and economic damage.
