One of the most frequently heard observations about statistics is that "Correlation does not imply causation" - in other words, that just because two observations are observed simultaneously, it doesn't necessarily mean that one is caused by the other. Nevertheless, sufficiently high degrees of correlation do make one wonder.
In that light, Orkin's latest "Top 50 Bed Bug Cities List" made me wonder.
For the second year in a row, Baltimore tops Orkin’s Top 50 Bed Bug Cities list, released today. New York fell four spots, while Dallas-Fort Worth joined the top 10. San Diego and Albany rejoin the list, after falling out of the top 50 in 2017, and New Orleans and Flint, Mich. join the list for the first time ever. Orlando has fallen off the list despite public lawsuits from hotel guests.
The list is based on treatment data from the metro areas where Orkin performed the most bed bug treatments from December 1, 2016 – November 30, 2017. The ranking includes both residential and commercial treatments.
There's more at the link.
I took the top 50 list, and correlated it with the party that controls or administers the city concerned. Here's what I found.
- Baltimore - Democrat
- Washington, D.C. - Democrat
- Chicago - Democrat
- Los Angeles (+2) - Democrat
- Columbus, Ohio - Democrat
- Cincinnati (+2) - Democrat
- Detroit - Democrat
- New York (-4) - Democrat
- San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose - Democrat
- Dallas-Fort Worth (+5) - Dallas is Democrat, Fort Worth is Republican
- Indianapolis - Democrat
- Philadelphia - Democrat
- Atlanta (+3) - Democrat
- Cleveland-Akron-Canton, Ohio (-1) - Democrat
- Raleigh-Durham, N.C. (-3) - Democrat
- Richmond-Petersburg, Va. (-5) - Democrat
- Houston - Democrat
- Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va. (+2) - Democrat
- Charlotte, N.C. (-3) - Democrat
- Buffalo, N.Y. (-2) - Democrat
- Knoxville, Tenn. - Democrat
- Nashville, Tenn. (+1) - Democrat
- Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich. (+4) - Democrat
- Pittsburgh - Democrat
- Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.-Asheville, N.C. - Mixed Democrat and Republican
- Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, Ill. (+4) - Democrat
- Phoenix (-1) - Democrat
- Denver (-6) - Democrat
- Milwaukee - Democrat
- Hartford-New Haven, Conn. (+1) - Democrat
- Charleston-Huntington, W.Va. (+5) - Independent/Democrat
- Boston (-4) - Democrat
- Syracuse, N.Y. (+7) - Democrat
- Dayton, Ohio (-2) - Democrat
- St. Louis (+2) - Democrat
- Seattle (-2) - Democrat
- Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (+9) - Democrat
- Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, M.I. (new to list) - Democrat
- Omaha, N.E. (-6) - Republican
- Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Dubuque, Iowa (-2) - Republican
- San Diego (new to list) - Mixed Democrat and Republican
- Lexington, Ky. (+1) - Democrat
- Honolulu, Hawaii (+5) - Democrat
- Louisville, Ky. (-3) - Democrat
- Las Vegas (+4) - Democrat
- Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, N.C. (-4) - Democrat
- New Orleans (new to list) - Democrat
- Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C. (-9) - Democrat
- Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla. (-14) - Democrat
- Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y. (new to list) - Democrat
Only six of the 50 are run by either Republicans, or mixed Democrat-Republican-Independent government. That means 44 out of 50 are the responsibility of their Democratic Party-controlled local governments, with several more having shared responsibility.
They say that "Correlation does not equal causation", but . . .
Peter
7 comments:
Texas Arcane once pointed out that the rise of bedbugs happened after folks lowered their water heaters from 140 to 120 or whatever it is now. So, these places used to kill the bedbugs when they washed the sheets, so any outbreaks tended to be limited to one room and they could get in there and clean out that particular room.
But now they spread bedbugs when they clean the sheets.
So, yeah, it is a bit of a Democrat generated problem.
:-)
Inspectors on the take and lazy inspectors!
When I ran the motel, each time I had to quarantine rooms for bedbugs it was immediately after we had groups of immigrant workers stay in those rooms.
Each and every time.
Draw your own conclusions.
A better phrase would be: "Correlation can imply causation, but does not prove it."
The other comparison is by city size. At a glance the 50 city list matches up very closely to the largest 50 cities in the US, in which case we could look at large cities and bed bugs and ask correlation or causation.
Omigod, does this mean that a propensity to vote Democrat is a symptom of bedbug bites?
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