Two States, Two Approaches
By: Sarah Son
Unsurprisingly, the two most populous states in America - California and Texas - have the most cases of the coronavirus. However, these two states, home to one-fifth of all Americans, have handled the pandemic in a noticeably contrasting manner.
From the beginning, Texas had a lighter approach to taking public-health measures. When the virus broke out, Greg Abbott, governor of Texas, issued the mask mandate unhurriedly despite the cases that increased day by day. Texas also had a stay-at-home-order, however, they were one of the first states to reopen again, regardless of the ever-increasing cases of the virus in that state.
On the other hand, California was the first state to impose a shelter-in-place order last year, and continued to have strict guidelines for its residents. Outdoor restaurant dining was banned until recently, the stay-at-home order was lifted only late last month, and the vast majority of schools have still been closed, contrary to Texas, where schools have been open since last fall.
Regardless of the distinctly opposite approaches to handling the situation, the overall results do not differ greatly. Texas has a higher death rate per person, but the gap is barely noticeable. Texas has had 127 deaths per 100,000 compared with 104 deaths per 100,000 in California. “People in California are frustrated because they feel like they are experiencing the worst of both worlds,” says Ken Miller of Claremont McKenna College and author of the book “Texas vs California”. Californians have endured never-ending lockdowns, yet deaths are currently higher than ever.
What could be the reason for this “unfair” outcome? There are several factors to take into consideration. Anne Rimoin, a professor of epidemiology at UCLA School of Public Health, believes the cause of this is more infectious mutations being present in California. However, this cannot be confirmed for sure yet, because of the limited genomic sequencing and surveillance that has been done so far. Another speculated cause is the length of lockdowns people can tolerate before it starts being counterproductive. Public-health experts believe the Texas lockdown was too short, which naturally led to more cases and deaths. On the other hand, California’s strict lockdown and restaurant ban may have compelled people to gather in-person, in a private home, rather than outside in public. Although the way of doing it was different, both states managed to spike their cases to similar numbers. The third factor that comes into play is access to healthcare in California and Texas. Texas chose not to expand health-care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. 18% of its adults and children are uninsured, which is the highest in America and twice the national average. Contrastingly, in California, the percentage of uninsured adults and children is 8%. Lack of healthcare is a plausible reason as to why Texan death rates are higher.
The next step now is vaccinations. Again, the two states have different ways of doing this. In Texas, healthcare workers and all those over 65 went first, whereas in California, all healthcare workers went first, then all those over 75 came next. Although Texas started earlier, California has slowly been gaining momentum. According to the Vaccine Watch provided by abc7news, there have been 7,963,575 vaccine doses distributed in California, and about 13.5% of the population has received at least one dose. In Texas, there have been 5,095,175 vaccine doses distributed, and about 13% of the over 16 population has received at least one dose. As the pandemic continues, we can only hope for the best in both states, despite the differing approaches and measures they are taking.