When it comes to criticising the pandemic, pundits always single out Florida. Or Texas. Or Arizona. Or all three.

But what about California? As of July 7, the state was second only to New York with 277,000 positive cases https://trib.al/sv01EHQ 

Virtually everything you can say about Texas, Florida and Arizona can also be said about California, starting with the shape of its Covid curve, which climbs gradually until mid-June and then explodes http://trib.al/sv01EHQ 

It took almost two months for California to record its first 100,000 positive cases; it took less than three weeks to record its most recent 100,000.

Los Angeles is said to be close to running out of available hospital beds http://trib.al/sv01EHQ 

The number of people who have died of Covid-19 in California is low — just more than 6,500 people.

In Arizona, deaths just crossed 2,000
In Florida, 4,009
In Texas, 2,813

New Jersey has recorded more deaths than all four states combined http://trib.al/sv01EHQ 

Since the surge in the South began in early June, a theory has developed as to why the death toll has remained relatively low, though it has begun to climb in recent days.

Partly, it’s that doctors have a better understanding of how to treat Covid-19 http://trib.al/sv01EHQ 

But it also means more young people are infected. “You can’t control them,” say the leaders of Florida, Arizona and Texas.

But so has California Governor Gavin Newsom, calling the Californians who have been infected in recent weeks “the young invincibles” http://trib.al/sv01EHQ 

Articles about the remark were paired with a photo of a California beach, full of people without masks — similar to the image that went viral a few months ago when the beach in question was in Florida.

As you may recall, the hashtag read #floridamorons http://trib.al/sv01EHQ 

It’s pretty obvious why California hasn’t been criticized like Florida:

It's a Democratic state
Newsom is a Democratic governor

Bringing up California’s issues hurts the narrative that Republican mismanagement is the reason for the infection surge http://trib.al/sv01EHQ 

California’s Newsom has done many of the same things that his Republican counterparts are being criticized for. He:

Reopened bars
Declined to issue a statewide mask mandate
Ceded the reopening process to the counties http://trib.al/sv01EHQ 

In recent days, California's Newsom has:

Put the brakes on the reopening
Issued a mandatory mask order
Shut down bars and indoor dining

But that’s exactly what Abbott has done in Texas. All of these governors are trying to recover from mistakes http://trib.al/sv01EHQ 

Why did DeSantis, Abbott and Ducey reopen their states so early? For the same reason Newsom did.

Not to curry favor with Trump, but because they were all desperate to get businesses up and running and people back to work http://trib.al/sv01EHQ 

It explains why 38 states — red and blue alike — are experiencing rising numbers of positive cases. Texas, Florida, Arizona and California all opened too early.

And it backfired on all of them http://trib.al/sv01EHQ