Trump-Supporting California Counties Are Dying From COVID-19 At Much Higher Rate

Counties in California where a majority of voters supported former President Donald Trump in the 2020 elections are now seeing a much higher rate of COVID-19 deaths than other counties, data shows.

During the election last year, Trump bested Joe Biden by at least 15% in 16 California counties. New state data from the California Department of Public Health showed that approximately 51 per 100,000 residents in Trump-supporting counties in the state died of COVID-19 from July to October.

Eight of the 10 counties with the highest COVID-19 death rates per 100,000 residents reported over the past four months backed Trump in 2020. These counties include Del Norte, Lassen, Tehama, Shasta, Calaveras, Sutter and Amador.

In comparison, only 16 of every 100,000 residents in Biden-supporting counties died of COVID-19 during the same period. Only two counties -- Lake and San Joaquin -- that backed Biden in 2020 reported the highest death rates over the past four months.

The data also showed that approximately 73.4% of residents in counties that strongly backed Biden have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of October. In comparison, only 49.6% of residents in Trump-supporting counties have been vaccinated with at least one dose.

The data comes as California continues to see high rates of COVID-19 infection, with health officials reporting 5,001 new cases Wednesday. The new figures put the state’s total number of coronavirus infections since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,943,059.

California has a rolling seven-day average of 6,847 cases, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

On Nov. 3, health officials in the state also recorded 106 new deaths, raising the total death toll to 72,471. The state’s rolling seven-day average for COVID-19 deaths is now at 90.

At least 4,279 patients were hospitalized in California as of Wednesday, with a seven-day average of 4,245 admissions.

California health officials have administered more than 54 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. As of Wednesday, 24,867,615 residents have been fully vaccinated, representing 63.30% of the state’s total population, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.