TRENTON, N.J. – Watch television. Peruse Twitter. A lot continues to be made of how “good” New Jersey’s response to COVID-19 has been and how “bad” or poorly Florida and Texas are doing. It’s absolutely absurd, Save Jerseyans, but that only evident if you take the time to look at the real data.
The vast majority of COVID-19’s dead are older and/or suffer from a chronic condition, and many of those dead resided in a long-term care facility (a euphamism for “nursing homes”). Over 40% of COVID-19 deaths nationwide transpired in nursing homes. In New Jersey? It’s closer to 50%.
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New Jersey’s officical stats in this regard are terrible. Far worse than what’s been seen in the red states getting most of the criticism at the the moment.
For example:
- New Jersey 11,946 confirmed nursing home COVID-19 cases in the country’s third highest raw total, behind only California and New York (two states with a lot more people than our own).
- New Jersey has the MOST COVID-19 nursing home cases per 1,000 residents (358.9); Texas is in 20th place (117.3) and Florida sits in 22nd place (108.8).
- New Jersey also has the second most deaths per 1,000 long-term residents at 116.2. That means more than 1 out of every 10 New Jersey long-term care resident has died of COVID-19. Famously-old Florida (24.1) and Texas (17) don’t come close.
Sadly, New Jersey’s nursing home dead don’t fit the Media’s narrative of purportedly compentent, aggressive blue state governors out-scoring the President of the United States in having contained the virus’s spread.
Trenton Democrats and the state congressional delegation have been equally unmotivated to do anything because, well, they’re mostly Democrats. They don’t want to talk about the Murphy Administration’s March 2020 Order RESTRAINING nursing homes from screening for COVID-19 positivity because Murphy is a… you guessed it… a fellow Democrat.
Just keep these cold, hard, mathematically-sound facts in mind the next time someone tries to convince you that Ron DeSantis is a butcher but Phil Murphy is a hero. Like I said… absurd. It’s also dangerous because the Media’s bad premise (e.g. blue states are succeeding) is being used to justify the economically ruinous COVID-19 restrictions in place in New Jersey. Don’t let them get away with it!
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