The state of New York performed worse than any other in America in terms of job loss and death during COVID-19, according to analysis published Sunday.
The Empire State had the most job losses per capita during the pandemic and one of the highest rates of excess deaths, according to data from Hamilton Place Strategies. The firm hypothesizes that the outcome is driven by the state’s large reliance on the tourism and hospitality industries, as well as the big hit of coronavirus cases it underwent during the country’s first wave of infections in spring 2020.
The 50 different state pandemic responses represented a unique test of our nation’s policymakers. Our latest @HPSInsight analysis examines how those decisions impacted the two major #COVID19 considerations: jobs lost & lives lost. Read the full analysis: https://t.co/4z2wLmPqiy pic.twitter.com/FxUyon3SM8
— Hamilton Place Strategies (@HPSInsight) April 19, 2021
The best-performing states, with both excess deaths and job losses well below the national average, include Idaho, Utah and West Virginia. Others that joined New York were Louisiana, New Jersey and Nevada. (RELATED: REPORT: President Joe Biden Once Pointed Out Gov. Andrew Cuomo Has ‘Enormous Balls’)
Hamilton Place Strategies used excess deaths rather than direct COVID-19 deaths because, according to its release, measuring through excess deaths offers some control for demographic and age differences. Another factor to consider is population density, which plays some role in viral spread but isn’t a determinative factor, research indicates.
The timing of the virus waves are also important. Researchers have theorized that states hit earlier in the pandemic, such as New York, fared worse in part because not enough information was known about COVID-19 yet to properly fight it.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been at the center of New York’s coronavirus response. In the early days of the pandemic, he became a media darling for his daily press briefings, for which he won an Emmy. He later went on to publish a book touting his own exploits in combatting COVID-19 from the governor’s mansion.
Cuomo’s star dimmed when it was reported that his administration had undercounted nursing home deaths after implementing a policy that compelled nursing homes to admit COVID-19-positive residents. New York health officials have since been mired in internal strife over the administration’s handling of the pandemic.