US Political Divide Reflected in Attitudes And Deaths Related to COVID
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
Their deaths may mirror a wider trend in the United States: Americans who live in pro-Trump parts of the country are less likely to be vaccinated and more likely to die from COVID-related complications.
NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports on new analysis from NPR showing that counties that voted for Donald Trump had almost three times the death rate of the counties that voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This past June, a Tennessee radio host named Phil Valentine released his own rendition of a famous Beatles song. |
| 0:07.0 | Let me tell you how it's with me. |
| 0:11.0 | It was a parody of Taxman, that Valentine called Vaxman. |
| 0:16.0 | Cause of a Vaxman, yeah, the Vaxman. |
| 0:23.0 | Valentine had spent months on air questioning the coronavirus vaccine. |
| 0:28.0 | It was as the Delta variant was ramping up across the US with hot spots in rural and Republican led parts of the country. |
| 0:35.0 | Just days after he posted his song, Poking Fun at the Vaccine, he announced on Facebook that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19. |
| 0:43.0 | Valentine was hospitalized, he got sicker, and his message shifted completely. |
| 0:49.0 | Just put all the conspiracies and microchips and all that business aside and go get vaccinated. |
| 0:55.0 | And then Valentine's brother Mark Valentine, he spoke to NPR in July on his brother's behalf. |
| 1:01.0 | Because by that point Phil was having difficulty breathing, he was in critical condition. |
| 1:06.0 | He said, you know, I know now that a lot of people didn't get the vaccine because I didn't get the vaccine. |
| 1:11.0 | And that is what I would like to correct. |
| 1:13.0 | And that's my purpose for being here today is to take the message that he's unable to take. |
| 1:18.0 | And that is take politics out of it. |
| 1:20.0 | It's time for us to get together and fight this thing collectively. |
| 1:24.0 | He said his brother regretted advocating against the vaccine. |
| 1:27.0 | Phil will be the most pro vaccine person you've ever seen as soon as he's able to be. |
| 1:32.0 | But Phil didn't make it. |
| 1:34.0 | He died about three weeks after his brother spoke to NPR. |
| 1:38.0 | And he wasn't the only conservative broadcaster who died from COVID-19 after spreading misinformation. |
| 1:42.0 | This has become a pattern. |
... |
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