The pandemic is hitting 'blue' America harder than 'red' America. That's dangerous.

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BLODGET & PLOTZ

Why it's dangerous that the pandemic is hitting red and blue America differently

Quick question: Are we experiencing a public-health catastrophe or an economic catastrophe?

You can pick only one answer.

You can't say "both."

How you answer probably reveals a lot about where you live and your political beliefs.

This crisis has entered a dangerous phase: Americans no longer feel they're in it together — partly because they're not.

Some remarkable New York Times data crunching reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic has slammed blue America and only grazed red America. Counties that Donald Trump won in 2016 have experienced only 21% of the pandemic deaths. The cumulative infection rate is twice as high in counties Hillary Clinton won as in counties Trump won. The Times points to multiple explanations for the higher cost in blue America: Infection rates are generally higher in densely populated areas, and infection and death rates are vastly higher in minority communities.

So we have a public-health disaster ravaging some places and some people, but an economic disaster that is ravaging everywhere and everyone. Even in counties with a handful of infections, movie theaters are shut and restaurants are struggling.

What's tragic about the divide between places devastated by both the virus and the economic depression and places merely devastated by the depression is that it happens to break right along political lines.

The disparate impact fuels conflict that wouldn't exist if the pandemic affected America evenly. Because red and blue America have been hit differently, we don't agree on the precautions Americans should take, and that has become a partisan squabble. That prompts President Trump to go mask-less against the recommendation of his own government, and to mock Joe Biden for wearing a mask. Because red and blue America have been hit differently, we don't agree on the best way to restart the economy and when to do it, and that too has become a partisan squabble.

The pandemic has devastated Europe, but because it has struck more indiscriminately, there's more public consensus about how citizens should behave. The Dutch prime minister is being lavishly praised for not breaking COVID-19 restrictions to visit his dying mother, while Britain's government is teetering merely because a top adviser broke quarantine.

Here's a mental exercise: Imagine if instead of hitting red and blue America unevenly, the virus had slammed states east of the Mississippi River only. The US would still be divided, but there would be no partisan rancor to the divide, no ratification of previously held political positions. It would also be a tragedy, but a much less corrosive one. —DP

The worst fears have not come to pass: Most states that began reopening early have not seen the dreaded "second surge." Back in April, when Georgia and other states began reopening before they had met even the White House's guidelines, many observers worried that they would see a big second wave of cases by mid-May. Well, mid-May has come and gone, and, happily, the number of new cases in most of these states is either flat or declining. Of course, these states still have problems to deal with — and other states are still seeing increasing cases—but, so far, the reopening has gone better than many feared. —HB

Trump dusts off an ancient, debunked conspiracy theory and uses Twitter to wonder aloud whether a critic committed murder. I've long defended Twitter's decision to continue to allow Trump to use the platform. After all, Trump is the president of the United States, so what he says is news. But Trump routinely abuses his privileged Twitter status, using the platform to harass or bully his critics, spread misinformation, and encourage violence — any of which would get normal people booted off the service. This weekend, Trump wondered aloud whether TV host and Trump critic Joe Scarborough murdered a former staffer — decades after an autopsy determined that the staffer's death was the result of a tragic accident. Obviously, the president of the United States should be above such behavior, on any platform. But the fact that Trump continues to use Twitter to smear critics should have consequences. The husband of the woman who died merely asked for Trump's odious tweets to be deleted. Twitter has refused. —HB

Japan has had one of the most successful coronavirus responses in the world. What can we learn? Why has Japan contained the coronavirus so well when so many other countries have struggled? Bloomberg's Lisa Du and Grace Huang interview experts who conclude that the success is likely attributable to Japan's contact-tracing program, mask-wearing, hygiene, distancing, and communication. The Japanese government's messaging was more sophisticated than just telling people to stay away from each other. The message was to avoid the three C's: closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings. What can the US, the UK, and other countries learn? Emphasizing the three C's would likely help. So would universal mask-wearing. And contract tracing. —HB

NEWS

Storms may delay SpaceX's historic launch on Wednesday. Elon Musk's company is preparing to launch its first astronauts into orbit, but the forecast is poor. The launch window is only one second long! If they scrub Wednesday, they'll try again Friday.

A financial professional named Amy Cooper has apologized for calling the cops on an African-American birdwatcher in Central Park. What a terrible, miserable, no-good story. Cooper was walking her dog unleashed this weekend when she came upon birdwatcher Christian Cooper, who asked her to leash her dog, as required by law. Amy Cooper bristled, then called the police, falsely claiming that an "African-American man" was "threatening myself and my dog." Christian Cooper filmed the encounter, which has now been viewed 18 million times. Amy Cooper's employer, Franklin Templeton, suspended her, and she abjectly apologized — as she should.

Amy Cooper's behavior was despicable, and she deserved to be shamed for it. If circumstances had unfolded differently, had Christian Cooper been met by different cops in a different place, it might have destroyed or even ended his life.

Still, enough piling on Amy Cooper. She has been humiliated, punished, disgraced. All of us sometimes behave stupidly and rudely, and few of us are defined by the worst thing we've ever done. Don't revel in Cooper's reckless stupidity. Let her learn from it. —DP

BUSINESS

5 statistics that show just how bad the economic crisis is. It's not just the number of people who've lost their jobs. Have you seen how many people have lost their health insurance?

Stocks soar again — Dow back above 25,000. The headline index made another 2% move higher to a post-crisis high. Stocks are a "forward-looking indicator." They reflect not what has happened or what is happening, but what traders expect will happen. And the market consensus right now is that the economic recovery is going to be rapid.

Meanwhile, "recovery trackers" in hard-hit industries continue to show that, one, we're heading in the right direction and, two, we have a long way to go. The economics site Calculated Risk publishes "high-frequency indicators" that track economic activity. Restaurant reservations, for example, are improving but still far below their normal level. Same for air travel.

LIFE

Cruisers really, really want to get back to cruising. Insider's Aine Cain talks to 18 cruise-crazy people who can't wait to get back on the water. Some are afraid to tell their friends they still want to take cruises. It's too politically contentious.

Tom Brady hit the golf shot of the year, then split his pants. It's not quite March Madness or the Masters yet, but live sports is definitely improving. This weekend brought us German soccer, a professional cornhole tournament, and the spectacle of two of the best quarterbacks of all time playing mediocre golf. The Match II (Tiger Woods/Peyton Manning versus Phil Mickelson/Tom Brady) raised $20 million for charity and was the highest-rated cable-golf broadcast ever.

Backyard chicken farming is booming. But it's raising the risk of that backyard outbreak of avian influenza could spread and devastate the commercial chicken industry.

THE BIG 3*

He ate like Warren Buffett for a week, and it made him feel miserable. Insider's Bob Bryan (also Insider Today's editor!) followed the Buffett diet of Cherry Coke, no booze, sparse vegetables, and ice cream for breakfast. He felt terrible.

The inside story of the NBA's craziest season. Insider's Scott Davis talks to coaches, players, and agents about Kobe's death, the China crisis, and the suspension of the season.

What's up with Khloe Kardishian's "new face"? It debuted on Instagram, and fans are puzzled. "If Khloe Kardashian entered a Khloe Kardashian look-alike contest I'm not sure she'd even be in the top 10," mused one Twitter user.

*The most popular stories on Insider today.

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