We allowed the government and others to label everything that didn't conform to The Official Narrative as "misinformation". Some of that had devastating effects.

Depends on what part of the government. There was the executive who insisted it was a hoax, and then it wasn't but maybe injecting bleach would help (full quotes included: politifact.com - Context what donald trump said about disinfectant ). Meanwhile his people were "clarifying" some of his comments (e.g. don't inject the bleach, use it to clean surfaces), and both CDC and WHO were correcting with the latest info they had. Plus phony cures (ivermectin), which numerous studies have shown did not affect COVID (it's not an anti-viral).

npr.org - Ivermectin covid treatment brazil study
conwaymedicalcenter.com - False horse dewormer for covid
nymag.com - Turns out the horse dewormer doesnt help covid patients

(these were just the first to pop up when googling...there were a LOT more)

Weather likely had some effect (though I have not seen a study as to how much), but counties that voted for Trump fared far worse than that voted Biden (I think one difference is that you presented state data, but the disparity mostly shows up at the county level).

pewresearch.org - The changing political geography of covid over the last two years

Which makes sense. A state is going to give you an average over rural and urban, and political affiliation. The county is a smaller 'bin', so the averaging is less and you see spots that just pop-out at you (see the map in that link, and the bar graphs below that). Over time there was geographical variation (kinda interesting to watch). The bar graphs clearly show the result as of the publication of that article.

Sweden? Google "sweden covid" and you'll get a slew of articles like this:

theguardian.com - Anger in sweden as elderly pay price for coronavirus strategy

Overall, Sweden did pretty well. But their senior demographic got nailed because they didn't protect them. Which you can see here:

statista.com - Number of coronavirus deaths in sweden by age groups

Sorry to hear that. Is she okay now?

The chemo was pretty hard on her. And she's taking some meds to help prevent recurrence, but they have side effects. Overall, yes, she's okay. Latest scans show she is still cancer-free (after 3 years). Achy joints, but she's strong again. We retired last year in part because she felt her mind wasn't as sharp, and because we both realized that your health will be fine until it isn't...and then it's too late. Before our health deteriorates (as almost everyone's does over time), we wanted to travel and indulge in hobbies while we could. Just got back from 7 weeks in Asia, and almost a week on Port Angeles. We'll be venturing out again later this year (Europe).