There is no question that stupid is as stupid does. COVID deniers and now face mask burners overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump, as a new study from John Hopkins University reveals. One county in Colorado, Crowley, with a population of 6,061 residents holds the number one spot in COVID infection, with 2,072 residents, which is 34.1% of the total population, testing positive for the virus. Now that’s dedication. With over a third of the people infected, denying the existence of COVID, or its deadly nature, must pose a real challenge.
In all events, these counties voted for Trump, proving Forrest Gump was right.
The #1 spot is still Jerauld County, South Dakota, where 16 out of the county’s 2,013 residents have died of COVID-19, or 0.8%. That’s 1 out of every 125 residents.
The 100 counties with the highest COVID-19 death rates voted for Donald Trump by 18 points.
It’s also worth noting how the ratio of per capita cases and mortality have shifted between the Blue and Red-leaning counties over time.
Back in mid-March, the case rate was 450% higher and the mortality rate was 530% higher in blue counties than red counties (defined as counties which voted for Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump). Due to my updating most of the counties to reflect the 2020 results instead of 2016, the lines for both cases and deaths per capita jumped around a bit for a few weeks as I updated counties in all 50 states, but they’ve now mostly settled back into the same pattern, continuing to shift from blue to red.
As of today, both cumulative COVID-19 Cases and Deaths per capita are running higher in the Red Counties:
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Cumulative Cases per 1,000 residents:Â Red Counties: 91.1; Blue Counties: 84.2Â (8.2% higher in Red Counties)
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Cumulative Deaths per 10,000 residents:Â Red Counties: 16.1; Blue Counties: 15.7Â (2.7% higher in Red Counties)
Interesting world we live in, when people are literally willing to die for a political belief. In this case, they believe Fearless Leader Trump, who got the virus, as you recall, yet they still either 1) don’t want to believe in it; 2) don’t want to think it’s much worse than the common cold or flu; 3) apparently are willing to play Russian roulette with their lives over this idiotic premise.
I have no sympathy for people this stupid, so I see the true tragedy here as these people infecting other people, the yous and mes who know better. That’s the crime against humanity here.
There is much about H.L. Mencken to criticize but sometimes he nailed it. And reading this caused me to grab my copy of The Portable Curmudgeon to make sure my memory was correct about Mencken being the one to note: “To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for ideas that were true!” Covidiots are dying in droves just to cling to their mistaken belief that Trump was and remains worthy of their trust and worship. Frankly, I don’t care how many of these Covidiots die due to their blind faith in Trump and Trumpism. Sadly, it’s not that simple. Because in addition to the dead idiots there are far more who survive, taking up valuable medical resources and worse infecting others who will also need treatment. And some of those people will needlessly die even though they believe in science and the truth and tried to do things right.
The more of them die, the more their ideas die with them. The more crippled the survivors, the less able to fight on they are. To me, that’s just another reason to stay healthy until I can get the vaccine.
I hope your turn for a vaccination comes soon. I get my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine next week, so unless the variants that are showing up are resistant to it I should have good odds by the end of the month when the antibodies from the second dose have built up.
As for the ideas dying off I’ve mentioned recently that that concept has been hoped for in the past with disappointing results. I think the long building trend to home schooling that was taking place among conservatives even prior to the Covid outbreak makes for trouble. Racists have long started indoctrinating their young since before school age and when it comes to this, as the children taking place in mask burning parties in Idaho prove kids are getting bullshit pumped into their heads by trusted family members much sooner than most folks realize. As the line from You’ve Got To Be Taught from the musical South Pacific says: “You’ve got to be taught; Before it’s to late. Before you are six, or seven or eight. To hate all the people your relatives hate; You’ve got to be carefully taught. You’ve GOT to be carefully taught!” These people are out there teaching tens of millions of kids not even school age stuff that will take a long time for those kids to unlearn, and that’s assuming those kids one day get into a life & surrounding by truth from people they kinda sorta trust before they are well into adulthood. Basically, this shit isn’t going to just die out with the Covidiot’s deaths. Hell, many of them and their family members refuse to acknowledge that Covid was the cause of the death!
I think you missed the “crippled” part of my argument. To wit, with the nasty ways COVID affects the survivors in ways we’re just coming to grips with, they’re going to be a lot less able-bodied as a result. Less able-bodied, less able to fight for anything, worthy or unworthy. As bubonic plague proved 400 years, believe whatever you want but Nature will still refuse to spare you if you are stupid. And I’ve months yet before I’m able to get the vaccine.
All the frontline workers, grocery store clerks, etc. that are put at risk because of the self-centered, entitled idiots.
I used to be one of those thirty years ago. If someone was having a bad day or just wanted to feel big by punching down, you were an easy target. It’s why I tip heavy for all my food delivery people.
This was sadly predictable. Those who voted for he who shall not be named are also many of the most willfully ignorant science and climate change deniers. And anti-vaxers. I saw a friend who was once a reasonable person become basically a Q-NUT! There is now no talking to him about pretty much anything, because he believes every crackpot conspiracy theory and right-wing lie out there! He believes unquestioningly and you just can’t make a dent in the crazy with him.
I don’t know if he wears a mask, social distances, or if he has or will get vaccinated. Sadly I lost my former friend to the RWNJ cult before the pandemic hit. And so it is with far too many who willingly joined the cult of the Orange Monster.
This behavior is why I said nearly a year ago that they can get infected if they want but I’m doing what I have to so I can dodge that bullet.