Lessons from the pandemic: what happens when you politicize a virus

IMAGE: Wallace, J., P. Goldsmith-Pinkham and J.L. Schwartz

A fascinating study carried out by three Yale professors, Jacob Wallace, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham and Jason L. Schwartz, entitled “Excess death rate for Republicans and Democrats during the COVID-19 pandemic”, and published by the prestigious National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), proves, through time-series analysis, the relationship between the excess mortality that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and the political affiliation of the victims, as recorded in their voting registrations.

The conclusions are devastating and incontrovertible: before the pandemic, mortality among both groups, Republicans and Democrats, was virtually the same, and evolved throughout the year along similar lines. After the start of the pandemic in March 2020, mortality becomes higher among Republicans, largely because they tend to be older: the elderly, because of their frailty, were the hardest hit by the virus in the early stages. But from April 2021, when vaccination campaigns began in the United States, the evolution separates dramatically, mainly because the Republicans’ denialism resulted in a subpopulation with lower vaccination rates, and this increased their mortality compared to their Democratic fellow citizens.

The end result is 22% higher mortality in Republicans versus Democrats before the vaccines, but…