WASHINGTON - Currently, evidence is growing that the COVID-19 pandemic is making trust in US institutions, which has been declining for years thanks to government scandals, economic dislocation, increased inequality and social media, much worse, according to a recent op-ed by The Washington Post.

Jennifer Rubin, an opinion columnist for the newspaper, mentioned in the article on April 12 that COVID-19 death rates in US red states are more than 38 percent higher than in blue states.

"Red America blames government for closing schools and causing economic turmoil; blue America blames the unvaccinated for willfully risky behavior that has held back recovery from the pandemic," she noted.

The author also noticed that polling offers "a portrait of a country that's becoming even less trusting." Only 24 percent of Americans say they can trust the government to do what is right 'just about always' or 'most of the time,' near that organization's historic lows, Rubin quoted a Pew Research as saying.