Just look at Florida’s and Texas’ response compared to New York and California. Those “Republican exceptions” had better results from not locking down. And yeah, there’s an argument to made for population density especially in places like NYC, but let’s also not forget that in NYC, the governor was sticking covid patients in elderly homes and upping the death rate. If the masks and vaxxes make you city rats feel safe then more power to you, but there was KO reason that stuff needed to be part of a global response