When the Covid-19 pandemic hit New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy acted quickly, taking draconian measures that he and his public health advisors said would help mitigate the spread of the virus and “flatten the curve.” Since then, New Jersey has remained one of the most restrictive states in the US, with severe limits on many activities, gatherings, and businesses.
Now, a study conducted by UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute found that New Jersey’s strategy to stop Covid-19 wasn’t just bad – it was the 46th least effective one of any state, despite the tough measures that were implemented.
The study ranked the performance of each US state in battling Covid-19 based on three factors: rates of infection, death, and testing, which the authors saying the study represents “the most objective analysis” of how states responded to the pandemic.
So why did New Jersey fare so badly? It’s still too early to say for sure, but the study’s authors noted that the US states, and countries in general, that fared relatively well over the course of the pandemic focused exclusively on mitigation efforts that were firmly grounded in science. States like New Jersey, New York, and others were well-known to follow guidelines created and implemented based on political ideologies rather than scientific evidence.
As a whole, the United States came in a pathetic 161st place in countries’ strategies to fight Covid-19. The United Kingdom, which had multiple national lockdowns, didn’t do well either, coming in 141st place.
Confirmation of what many have been saying all along. In a year or two there will be a study that will show that these masks which take away our צורת האדם also were for nought
Don’t get your hopes up if you read the report. It clearly states the implemented Mask, Stay at Home, and social distancing fared better. States that struggled had more underlying risk factors, poverty, economics that were more services-based. All of which factored into how well we did. Now put your mask back on.
All the time that our wonderful politicians were busy ripping on Florida, it was Florida that showed us how to do this when no one had any clue. Look across to NY where our lame brain governor kept looking and see the mess that happened over there.
Murphy’s law
You should post the link to the study because it has some very informative items in it, most of which NJ enacted. It does clearly call out Trump though on his denial, undermining of public health officials and downplaying of the pandemic. The study was very narrow on it’s criteria to arrive at it’s narrative. This study was faulty in many ways because how can you compare NJ/NY as being bad and Alaska being the best? We got hit first and hardest. Alaska, Vermont, Maine who had the best scores are less densely populated and had the benefit of our experience.
Don’t get your hopes up if you read the report. It clearly states the implemented Mask, Stay at Home, and social distancing fared better. States that struggled had more underlying risk factors, poverty, economics that were more services-based. All of which factored into how well we did. Now put your mask back on.