I'd love to have a lengthy conversation with you, but something tells me too much nuance will overload your brain.
1. Pandemics spread exponentially.
So answer this semi-rhetorical question: Let's say, hypothetically there are two states. One state has 500k Population. The other state has 5 Million Population. They have the exact same 'rates' of infection and death.
So given that pandemics spread exponentially, which state actually handled the pandemic better? If you say they handled it equally. You are wrong. The less populated state handled it much worse given the nature of pandemics and how they spread. It's not just a matter of looking at 'rates per capita' like you would look at poverty, crime, etc. These things are not contagious.
More populated states are a prime breeding ground for the virus. The virus 'should' <---Key Word, 'should' be worse in more populated states. So one can objectively say that the 500k Population State, handled it much worse than the 5 Million Population State, even though they have the exact same rates of infection and death.
Once again to reiterate; The virus 'should' spread more widely in more populated states. So if a less populated state has the same infection/death rates, you can say they did objectively worse.
2. Some states are ahead of others in virus progression.
Obviously any state that has an international airport is going to be ahead of the curve, as opposed to being in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure you're cocked and ready to post something about NJ and NY, aren't you? Well, these states were the first infected. They've been dealing with it longer, so will ultimately have higher stats in most cases. Many of these stats are also tallied from months ago.
Currently, most Blue States, and those first infected, have 'flattened their curve' so-to-speak. They've gotten over the hump, and have been seeing their transmission rates rapidly declining for weeks. Where as many Red States are still seeing a rise in daily infection rates.
It's like comparing a rotten apple, to another rotten apple that's been sitting outside a month longer. Do you know what the current positive testing rate is in NJ as opposed to Florida? NJ is between 1-2%, Florida is almost 20%. Last week there were only 204 New Cases in NJ. Do you know how many there were in Florida? Almost 10,000.
New York: 777
Texas: 8,000
Take a look at these graphs. Which looks like they're doing worse to you?
