by Is The Possible V-Shaped Recovery Flattening As The Second Quarter Comes To An End? Probably, although it is unclear whether or not we are having a V-shaped recovery (see most recent post here). However, whatever it is, it looks like the revived spread of the coronavirus is probably slowing it somewhat. New cases are up by 15% nationally from a low point several weeks ago, and there are reports of businesses of various sorts of closing, if not whole communities. The pattern of the increase has various aspects: 1) It seems to be now more in red states than blue states, with the trend having been toward this since the early days of the pandemic when it first started in major Dem cities in major Dem states, such as Seattle, WA, the Bay Area of CA, and the
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Is The Possible V-Shaped Recovery Flattening As The Second Quarter Comes To An End?
The pattern of the increase has various aspects:
1) It seems to be now more in red states than blue states, with the trend having been toward this since the early days of the pandemic when it first started in major Dem cities in major Dem states, such as Seattle, WA, the Bay Area of CA, and the New York metro area. Of the states with the most rapid recent increase, we have only three that are predominantly Dem: CA, OR, and NV, with one purplish, NC, and the rest GOP: SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, AR, OK, TX, AZ, UT.
2) While now it is predominantly rising in GOP states where governors have not strongly encouraged social distancing or mask-wearing while rushing to fully reopen, and in some cases even banning local communities from requiring mask-wearing in public places, although some of those are now backing off that, such as Abbott in Texas, if one looks at this at the county level it remains that Dem counties are still outnumbering GOP ones, although the trend is strong toward GOP ones, and the line on this one will probably be crossed soon (these designations are based on how they voted in the presidential election in 2016). The obvious explanation for this apparent discrepancy is that in the red states cases tend to be increasing more in densely populated areas, which are more likely to be urban areas in Dem counties in those states, such as the Houston metro area in Texas.
3) There is not a clear pattern of these either being spread across states or concentrated in particular areas. Some states with increases scattered widely include the Carolinas, Florida, and Alabama. Somewhere they are more isolated/concentrated in particular locales include the two largest on this list: California and Texas.
4) Certain sectors seem to be especially hit be reclosings, notably restaurants and bars as well as some sports facilities.
5) A possible offset to all this is that certain communities are still reopening, despite this new round of new cases. An example is Washington, D.C., which just got going today with its second stage of reopening, following its suburbs in MD and VA that have already done so.
Barkley Rosser