Politics or need? Explaining state protective measures in the coronavirus pandemic

Objective We explain evolving policy choices made by all 50 states in response to the coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic in the United States against the background of each state's political and public health landscape. Method We create an index of eight state preventative measures and explain variation in that index by infection and death rates, vaccination rates, support for President Trump in 2020, and the political party of the governor. We control for population density and the health vulnerability of each state. Results State response was largely driven by three factors: the death rate from COVID‐19, Trump votes in 2020 and Republican control of the governorship. Conclusion Understanding state response to the pandemic requires going beyond a partisan lens and considering the shifting onus of responsibility for taking action to protect against the virus from states to individual citizens in an increasingly politicized sphere of pandemic response.