This is how the most vaccinated and least vaccinated states countered the delta variant.

The latest wave of COVID-19 caused by the Delta variant has put the hospital at stake and destroyed the hope of returning to normal soon.

However, the damage caused by the coronavirus was far from uniform, mainly due to geographical differences in vaccination rates.

To understand how these differences occurred, the Los Angeles Times examined the five states with the lowest complete vaccination rates and compared them with the five states with the highest rates.

Immunization rates in Mississippi, West Virginia, Idaho, Alabama, and Wyoming (all bright red states) are approximately 40% each.

This figure ranges from 67% to 69% in the blue states of Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont.

These five states suffered far more damage in 2020 than the five red states, primarily because New England was the epicenter of the early pandemics.

By January of this year, the total death toll per 100,000 inhabitants was 152 in the blue states and 106 in the red states.

The gap soon began to narrow. The reason is arguably more related to policy and politics than vaccines. Vaccines were in short supply at the time and were reserved primarily for healthcare professionals.

Democratic governors of Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut have issued a state of emergency, wary of more deaths.

All mask obligations imposed and travel restrictions that require people arriving from outside the state to be negative for virus quarantine or testing. People were much more likely to follow federal recommendations for social distance.

In Connecticut, companies that violate health orders, such as restaurants with unmasked staff and theaters that operate at more than 50% capacity, can be fined up to $ 10,000 per citation. there is.

“The sector rules and capacity limits we have implemented are aimed at mitigating the spread of the disease as much as possible,” said Governor Ned Lamont at the time.

Mississippi, West Virginia, Idaho, Alabama, and Wyoming have taken a completely different approach. Their Republican leaders have allowed the old mask obligations to expire. Many of their members have come to view such rules as a violation of personal liberty.

Wyoming bars, theaters, and gyms allowed to resume operations The latest wave of COVID-19, driven by the Delta variant, puts hospitals at stake and destroys hopes of immediate return to normal. Did. Mask Free-In early March, Governor Mark Gordon told people to “continue to take personal responsibility for their actions and remain diligent.”

By late April, the total death toll per 100,000 inhabitants of the five red states had increased to 193. That’s an 82% increase annually, but still less than the total of 213 in the Blue States.

It didn’t take long before enough vaccines were available. The majority of the five blue states jumped on this occasion.

All five governors ultimately impose vaccination obligations on health care workers, and in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, all state officials must be vaccinated or tested weekly.

In contrast, vaccination campaigns in the five red states failed primarily because politicians played against voters.

In April, Idaho Governor Brad Little issued an order banning state agencies from requiring people to present proof of vaccination in order to access state services or facilities.

Wyoming and Alabama continued the following month, banning all forms of the vaccine passport system.

All five governors were solid and refused to give orders even to health care workers.

When a reporter asked him about his masking policy in August, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves replied with a mockery. Why don’t you go home and lock yourself up? “

That same month, after about 20 Mississippi hospitals ran out of ICU beds, one turned the parking floor into a field hospital.

Since the end of April, the mortality rate in the Red States has more than tripled that in the Blue States.

As a result, during the pandemic process, the red states outnumbered the blue states in deaths per 100,000 people. As of September 10, the totals were 230 and 224, respectively.

The Blue States continue to pay attention to the increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks, but each of these measures remains far better than the Red States.

Masks were mandatory when children returned to schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. In Vermont, where the school district is allowed to make its own decisions, almost everyone has chosen to request a mask.

Meanwhile, in Idaho, where medicines are being distributed and hospitals are approaching capacity, the governor seeks legal action against President Joe Biden’s plan to require companies with more than 100 employees to be vaccinated. doing.

The Governor of Wyoming described the plan as “terrible.”

At the same time, he said he had allocated $ 30 million in federal funding to address the shortage of health care workers and could summon state soldiers in the state.