If every category were given equal weight - which assumes each priority was of equivalent importance, a policy choice in itself - the top scorer overall would be Nebraska, with an average of 73 out of 100, despite scoring below the national average in the social well-being category. Many rural states, despite being less densely populated, ranked poorly in health outcomes, however. Overall, rural states tended to fare better than more urbanized states on economic and educational outcomes.No state did well in every policy area.States whose economies are heavily dependent on tourism suffered the most economically, with Hawaii and Nevada hit hardest.But they also tended to have worse economic and educational outcomes. States that imposed more restrictions such as stay-at-home orders and mask requirements did experience lower rates of death and hospitalizations.Every choice came with negative consequences, some known ahead of time, some only discovered or appreciated months later. There was no optimal set of choices, no perfect path a governor or other state officials could have taken. What the scorecard shows is that the pandemic has played out in vastly different ways across America, and that those state decisions had real-life impacts. The scorecard groups available data for policy outcomes into four categories - health, economy, social well-being and education - and generates scores in each area between zero and 100. POLITICO’s State Pandemic Scorecard pulls together what we know so far about how states fared during the pandemic, and how the choices each made impacted its residents, businesses and schools. But nearly two years after the first cases of Covid-19 were detected in the United States, we are beginning to get enough data to start assessing the implications of those policy choices. There was no optimal way to make those choices, and we’re still debating them. Close schools to control spread – but risk damaging kids’ education. Keep businesses open – but risk a rise in hospitalizations and deaths. Protect residents’ health and instruct them to stay home – but risk driving companies out of business and accelerating unemployment. State officials had limited information about the virus, and the trade-offs were difficult. Which businesses should stay open and which should shut their doors? Should schools close and for how long? Should masks be mandated? From the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the toughest decisions about how to combat the virus fell on state leaders.
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