I think if you were to eliminate all the other reasons that blue states are suffering from economically, the covid virus wouldn’t need to be on the list.
What I mean is, look at Illinois, they have been basically broke for a while now. I work for a creditor of the state and they pay their bills at least six months to a year in arrears, but they get away with it because they’re “the government”, and what are you going to do? Send them to collections?
So they were broke before COVID, simply because of their own poor policy choices, but it’s not likely they would get a bailout if they admit they are broke due to their own incompetence. If we did that, they’d stay incompetent and be broke again very soon. But, if they can convince people they are broke because of COVID and shutdowns and through no fault of their own, then they might get a bailout. That’s what they are hoping for.