There is no debating the vast impacts the Covid outbreak had on the lives of all individuals, however one recent trend that has been observed was how birth rates were impacted during the pandemic. Researchers were finding that these trends were not necessarily results of the coronavirus disease but rather the social impacts that resulted from the 2 years of isolation. Throughout the pandemic, the American way of life was greatly altered economically, politically, and socially. While this was a common trend throughout the United States, some states saw larger changes while others did not depending on how each state reacted to the Covid outbreaks. They found that while states such as Montana and Utah’s birth rates increased, New York’s did not. Now this prompts scientists to discover why and conclude what causes this variation in birth rates.
While researchers began looking at variations in states, they started to look more at red or blue states and how they contribute to the birth trends. There is no denying that each state responded differently to the pandemic whether that is being more cautious and forceful when it comes to social distancing, or completely denying the existence of the disease at all. There were obvious patterns that the more red states, or conservative ones, were those that were less strict on enforcing social distancing therefore their fertility rates jumped. However, the states that were more harsh in enforcing social distancing and mask policies leaned liberal and their fertility rates dropped. Although some of these trends existed before Covid began, the patterns only strengthened throughout those years.
One reason that can be seen from these observations in addition to political affiliation is social and economic status. Individuals tend to keep in mind if they are financially stable or physically ready to take on a child and the changes they faced during covid economically created large adjustments in birth rates. The pandemic just intensified this as more and more people were being laid off or struggling economically making growing a family the last of their concerns. Because of the immense change that the pandemic caused in the livelihoods of individuals, birth rates were fluctuating depending on how that particular state behaved regarding Covid, creating a persisting trend that may be challenging to undo.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/04/17/us-birth-during-covid-varied/11639988002/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/03/07/how-many-people-born-day-global-national/11266988002/
7 comments:
This is actually a very interesting topic as it doesn't only consist of a person's financial and social status but also what kind of political beliefs the actual state had in place. I do agree that states that leaned toward the conservative side had less social distancing policies and this can be seen when a lot of conservatives started to protest about staying indoors during the peak of the pandemic. That would equate to more birth rates than states leaning toward the left side because they would want to see each other more often. But regardless of people's economic status or political beliefs, I would say birth rates did drop during this time because overall, people's attention was driven toward COVID itself and naturally people wouldn't want to bring a child in the middle of a world crisis. Although I think this isn't an argument, it is interesting to see how people's political beliefs can contribute to trivial things such as birth rates.
The correlation between associated political party and rising birth rates seems absurd but makes sense in the context of the COVID-19 Outbreak. However, did birth rates really jump in some states as a result of COVID-19? Although republican states are less likely to enforce strict quarantine policies, it's very interesting that birth rates not only remained consistent as previous years but also increased. However, as Josh mentioned, I still believe that COVID most likely lowered birth rates generally. If anything, as opposed to the COVID restrictions enforced, financial issues are most likely to the result of declining birth rate if anything. Due to the economic recession America faced(and is facing now) during the pandemic, and inflation rates increasing at the same time, lay off rates were higher than ever. Financial situations in various households were most likely a crisis. Thus, I believe the COVID pandemic didn't necessarily directly affect birth rates, but instead indirectly affected them due to political and economical reasons.
It makes complete sense that red states who didn't shut down as much had higher birth rates than blue states. As we all experienced, the intense quarantine in California (blue state) hampered our ability to connect, socially. This trend I'm sure was seen in most blue states with heavy restrictions and not as much seen in the red states. In terms of the makeup of the electorate, more births in red states is fine by me as that may equate to more liberal voters in those states (young people) and might turn the tides of elections in the future.
I think this is an interesting trend that makes a lot of sense. There may also be more factors at play. From what I've seen on social media, there's a lot of hesitation as to what kind of world we live in right now and if bringing a child into it is right. While I think the quarantine and declining economy definitely discouraged having children for many people, it is also possible that the increased protesting, unstable political climate, and climate change may have also played a role in declining birth rates. Even before COVID, millennials had far fewer children than the generations before they had at the age and I think quarantine just furthered that same trend by making the world even less appealing to prospective parents. One interesting thing about this trend is whether the next generation will actually lean more conservative, given that conservatives continue to have children while more liberal millennials are not.
It is a trend that could be expected of people. However, the U.S had a declining brith rate even before of COVID. From an average woman having three children, it became two in 2018. And this trend isn't unique to Americans but people from all around the world. It is interesting to see how humans' birth rates are heavily impacted by the environment. With the income and overall GDP dropping, the pressure parents face is tremendous. And it is possible for the U.S to face incoming population being overwhelmingly elders and therefore; more difficult to generate profits for the nation. It would be interesting to see how the government will propose some laws such as further increasing the retirement age.
I think it is interesting to see just how much politics can play a role in the outcomes of society and people's lives. I think the pandemic definitely heightened this trend of events, however I don't think this is anything too crazy or abnormal given the fact that blue states typically have younger people that have fewer children versus red states that are more prone to the older generation having more kids.
I like this topic, and it will be interesting to look back on this blog post in a score of years. I wonder if the presence of Covid and also the fact that being quarantined could lead to enticements for the pregnant mother, could lead to birth defects or problems down the road for the offspring of those that didn't take the pandemic seriously enough and made the world suffer to be able to have their "personal rights".
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