Why are Texas and Florida doing so well for new COVID cases?

[PeteS in CA]

Why are Texas and Florida doing so well for new COVID cases?

https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2021/04/26/why-are-texas-and-florida-doing-so-well-for-new-covid-cases-n385772

... A report from Fox News shows that new COVID cases in both Florida and Texas continue to decline, though Florida’s numbers are still a bit above the national average. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is that Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan are currently leading the pack in terms of new cases. Some of that can be attributed to which states are still conducting more aggressive testing regimens, but not all of it. ... As the report points out, Texas has been fully reopened without a mask mandate for more than six weeks and Florida has been in the same situation for considerably longer. New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania are still under various levels of lockdown protocols with mask mandates in place. So if those policies are as effective as everyone keeps telling us, why aren’t we seeing more of a disparity in the numbers in the opposite direction?
...
The explanation suggested in the linked report doesn’t really answer all of the questions we should be asking, at least as far as I’m concerned. Simply saying “Republican Governor Good, Democratic Governor Bad” is a rather heavy-handed and unspecific approach. (Even if it works out to be the reality of the situation in the end.) ...

If mask mandates were truly effective, we should be seeing the lowest number of new weekly cases in the states that have them. We’re not seeing that. But if face mask mandates – particularly for outdoor activity – made absolutely no difference, we should be seeing roughly the same number of new cases across the board when taking other factors like population density into consideration. That’s not the situation being observed either. Texas is actually making significantly more progress than Michigan, which is heading back in the wrong direction. And Michigan is one of the most tightly controlled states in the country in these terms.

Could it be possible that some of these government policies have actually been making things worse? Because that’s arguably a much bigger disaster than simply enacting policies that are ineffective.

This is a thoughtful article that points out the holes in simplistic pseudo-explanations.

[Elderberry]

The Sunday Read: Southern states outperforming northern states amid COVID-19

By Chris Krug | The Center Square Feb 28, 2021

https://www.thecentersquare.com/opinion/the-sunday-read-southern-states-outperforming-northern-states-amid-covid-19/article_901ec7bc-77b8-11eb-bdff-c79dd5d6aa26.html

Southern states are allowing their children to live somewhat normal lives. They are looking at the same data sets and largely the same transmission rates that persist across the country, but they are actually following “the science and the data” that has said from the beginning that children are not vectors for COVID-19. They are – get this – thinking reasonably, rationally and holistically about the realities of coronavirus.

People are working here – going about their business and making a living, providing for their families. The burden on systems is lower here because of that. And, day by precious day, the false narrative that life somehow is less pleasant here or less cultured or less interesting or simply less is melting away. Thank God for that.

COVID-19 has opened the nation’s eyes, at least in part, to the value of choosing where you live. It has reaffirmed the truth that we live in the United States (plural) of America. And it has demonstrated where freedom is strong and where government is less interested in dictating our lives.

It’s intellectually dishonest to believe that the southern states are growing in population only because the weather is more palatable than it is in the north. The truth is that the southern states are more free and more open, actually more inclusive and less segregated – probably the best places to live in this country right now and for the foreseeable future.

[PeteS in CA]

One of the flies in the R Governor vs. D Governor, Open vs. Closed states, Southern vs. Northern states narrative-ointments is California. California is all of the things that should be bringing on a surge, but California's new cases numbers have been flat for 5 or 6 weeks.

None of the simplistic answers work, IMO, because there are multiple contributing factors that may vary when comparing one state to another (e.g., while CA has been very shut down compared to FL, CA has been more open than has MI).