TWICE

Because right wing media is preaching conspiracy theories about the vaccine and masks and any other public health measure.
That's it, that is simply the fact of the matter. Being a MAGA asshole, or being surrounded by them is a risk factor.

Counties with a higher share of Trump votes had even higher mortality rates.

And yes ER, They did do the cost benefit analysis... See, in places like Oklahoma they could easily afford to lose 20 percent of the Republican voters to COVID and still carry the state... So they lose a few hundred thousand votes in safe states, big deal. What they gain is a wedge issue to motivate their base and get them to turn out in greater numbers in purple states... That's a win for them. Easily worth the economic devastation. Worth the 100's of thousands dead, worth the death threats against health officials. And the bonus is, the more carnage and hardship America suffers under Biden's presidency the better it will be for the next GOP candidate
It is mass murder, terrorism on a scale our country has never experienced before.