New York, California, New Jersey and Illinois were panned for their pandemic performance after bringing in draconian measures to shut their citizens in their homes.
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Proof that blue states DID fail their people during pandemic: Harsh lockdowns caused huge deaths rates, ruined kids' education and destroyed business, bombshell research FINALLY shows - with NY, NJ, CA and IL all receiving an F-grade
- New York, California, New Jersey and Illinois were panned for their pandemic performance in the new study
- Democrat Governors' policies 'caused huge death rates, ruined children's studies and destroyed businesses'
- Meanwhile states that allowed residents more freedom as coronavirus swept across the country faired better
- Utah, Nebraska, Vermont, Montana and South Dakota were praised by analysts for their pandemic response
- It comes amid fears restrictions may be phased back in as Philadelphia brings back its indoor mask mandate
tates that imposed the harshest lockdowns had the most devastating impact on the public, the most wide-ranging study into Covid restrictions in the US to date has found.
New York,
California, New Jersey and
Illinois were panned for their pandemic performance after bringing in draconian measures to shut their citizens in their homes.
Those states'
Democrat Governors' policies caused high death rates, ruined children's education and destroyed businesses due to the severe curbs on freedom, researchers found as they slapped them with an F-grade.
Nine out of the ten worst responses to the pandemic were in blue states, the report said, with only Republican-run Maryland bucking that trend and coming seventh last.
Meanwhile places that allowed their residents more freedom as
coronavirus swept across the country appeared to fair better over the last two years.
Florida fared sixth, with its Governor Ron DeSantis condemned in the early days of the pandemic for what critics claimed was a reckless desire to reopen too quickly.
Utah, Nebraska, Vermont, Montana and South Dakota were also praised by analysts for their pandemic response which did not cause more Covid deaths. Maine was the only Democrat-run state in the top nine best responses, and came eighth.
The Republican-led areas - which dominated nine out of the top ten places in the study - have seen their economies remain strong and unemployment figures stay steady due to fewer restrictions.
The report, written by the National Bureau of Economic Research, said shutting down during the pandemic was 'by far the biggest mistake governors and state officials made'.
It judged states on their economy, education and mortality and compiled a comprehensive list showing how they now stand as coronavirus dies down.
The bombshell study comes amid fears coronavirus restrictions may be phased back in as cases of the virus creep up, with Philadelphia bringing back its indoor mask mandate only a month after lifting it.
Co-founder Steve Moore told
Fox: 'Shutting down their economies and schools was by far the biggest mistake governors and state officials made during Covid, particularly in blue states.
'We hope the results of this study will persuade governors not to close schools and businesses the next time we have a new virus variant.'
New York, California, New Jersey and Illinois were joined in the bottom ten for overall performance by New Mexico, Maryland, Nevada, Connecticut and Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.
New Jersey, District of Columbia, New York, New Mexico, California, and Illinois were all branded with an F grade for their responses to the pandemic - with New Jersey slapped with a score of zero out of a possible 100.
Economy
To work out the economic situation in each state the researchers looked at unemployment figures and the local GDP.
They found New Jersey, New York, Hawaii, Massachusetts and California were the bottom five for the former category, while Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, Delaware and Pennsylvania were last for their GDP.
Across the two factors, the authors - Phil Kerpen, Stephen Moore and Casey Mulligan - said: 'Hawaii and Nevada came in last by far because of the overwhelming impact the global shutdown of tourism had on them, and energy-heavy states similarly had disproportionate unemployment rises with the collapse of global demand.'
Education
For education, the report looked at the percentage of students attending classes through the pandemic, with schools working on a hybrid system given half a score.
District of Columbia came in last place for this, followed by California, Oregon, Maryland, Washington and Hawaii respectively.
The report said: 'School closures may ultimately prove to be the most costly policy decision of the pandemic era in both economic and mortality terms.
'One study found that school closures at the end of the previous 2019-2020 school year are associated with 13.8 million years of life lost.'
It added: 'Unlike mortality or economic outcomes, closing public schools was entirely under the control of policymakers. Almost all private schools were open.'
Death rates
Meanwhile for mortality the authors focused on two areas - Covid-associated deaths reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and all-cause excess mortality.
On average across these two categories, Arizona came bottom of the list in 51st, with New Mexico, Mississippi, Nevada and New York also bringing up the rear.
The report said: 'There is no clear pattern in which states had high and low mortality, although we note one major study from researchers found that lockdowns increased all-cause mortality to a statistically significant extent.
'Whether or not political leaders can be considered responsible for mortality outcomes is therefore unclear, although advocates of a ''focused protection'' strategy have suggested that sheltering the high-risk could reduce overall mortality – an approach adopted by Florida.'
The majority of states painted as using a poor policy to deal with the pandemic were Democrat led, while the Republican governors mostly came out of the study well.
Overall, Utah was the standout performer over the last two years, followed by Nebraska, Vermont, Montana and South Dakota in the top five across the board.
Florida, New Hampshire, Maine, Arkansas and Idaho came in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth in the study respectively.
But economically, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Mississippi and Idaho topped the list for their handling of the coffers over the pandemic. But they were closely followed by Utah, Kentucky, Georgia, Vermont and Missouri.
Many of the same states also faired well for its handling of children's education amid Covid, with Wyoming - which took home a 100 per cent average in the study - Arkansas, Florida, South Dakota and Utah taking the top spots.
The rest of the ten leading states in this category were Nebraska, Montana, Texas, North Dakota and Louisiana respectively.
Yet when the researchers looked at each states' Covid deaths, the top order was shuffled, with Vermont coming out in first.
It was followed by Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, New Hampshire, Washington, Utah, Alaska, Minnesota and Virginia respectively.
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