Data on new Covid infections are showing some positive signs in the final week of January 2022. NBC News reports that Covid is “in retreat” in the Northeastern states, with a dramatic decline in hospitalizations in New York and New Jersey. The CDC.gov Covidtracker also shows a decline in new cases and hospitalizations, noting that: “As of January 26, 2022, the current 7-day moving average of daily new cases (596,860) decreased 19.9% compared with the previous 7-day moving average (744,806).” That same site notes that deaths are still increasing, due to a high rate of Covid infection in states like Alabama and Mississippi.

An ABC News infographic shows that Covid is still having an impact on Southern states. As of January 29th, Texas had a seven day moving average of 159 Covid deaths, Georgia had a seven day moving average of 72 deaths, and Arizona had a seven day moving average of 72 deaths.

This news is particularly bad for the Republican Party, as the unvaccinated continue to represent the overwhelming majority of Covid deaths, and there is a direct correlation between intensity of belief in MAGA ideology, and the chances that someone has never had the Covid vaccine. An NPR report from December of 2021 noted that pro-Trump counties have far higher death rates from Covid19 than counties that voted for President Joe Biden. It is theoretically possible that deaths of GOP voters from Covid could end up having an impact on 2022 Senate races in Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida.