California and Texas Fought Covid Their Own Way, Suffered Just the Same
Politics aside, the nation’s two biggest states have both stumbled in the fight against the deadly coronavirus.
Motorists line up for coronavirus tests in a parking lot at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Jan. 4.
Photographer: Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP Photo
When the novel coronavirus struck, California embraced lockdowns and mask mandates. Texas resisted them. Yet almost a year since the U.S. recorded its first Covid-19 case, the two most populous states, so often seen as opposites, find themselves in similar shape, with crippled economies and higher casualties than most nations.
It’s easier to shop, dine, and pray in Texas than in California, where most of its almost 40 million people are living under some form of lockdown. But the states’ unemployment rates are virtually the same: 8.1% in Texas and 8.2% in California. Each state has lost about 30,000 people to the coronavirus. Texas has seen 103 Covid-19 patients die for every 100,000 people since the start of the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In California the ratio is 75.