"How Covid Became a Red State Crisis," was the headline over Paul Krugman's column in Friday's New York Times. "It's crucial to understand that we aren't facing a national crisis; we're facing a red-state crisis, with nakedly political roots," Krugman wrote.
Saturday's New York Times front-page news article provided a reality check with a report that "the C.D.C. described an outbreak in Provincetown, Mass., this month that quickly mushroomed to 470 cases in Massachusetts alone, as of Thursday.": "The outbreak in Provincetown, Mass., this month sprouted after more than 60,000 revelers celebrated the Fourth of July gathering in densely packed bars, restaurants, guesthouses and rental homes, often indoors. On July 3, there were no cases in the town and surrounding county. By July 10, officials noted an uptick, and by July 17, there were 177 cases per 100,000 people. The outbreak has since spread to nearly 900 people across the country."
So, Provincetown, Mass., and, later down in the Times article, Dr. Robert Wachter, chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco:
"I thought two months ago that we were over the hump," Dr. Wachter said. In San Francisco, the most highly vaccinated big city in the country, 77 percent of people over age 12 are vaccinated.
And yet, the hospital where he works has seen a sharp rise, from one case of Covid-19 on June 1 to 40 now. Fifteen of the patients are in intensive care.
California and Massachusetts are not "red states," but rather are predictably and consistently Democratic in presidential politics, at least in recent years. So Krugman's column seems far from the facts.