California officials boast that the state’s extended pandemic lockdowns and health mandates saved tens of thousands of lives from COVID-19, compared to states like Florida that reopened early.
But a major study of all U.S. states’ pandemic performance found that while masks and social distancing drove down infection rates, they didn’t influence death rates, which were driven more by population age, health, poverty, race, education, health care access, vaccination and public trust.
The study argues that while Florida’s death rate per 100,000 was higher than California’s, it would actually be lower than the Golden State’s if all states had the same age and health characteristics of the country as a whole.
