Not talking about Afghanistan at work seems reasonable.
I'm not sure what COVID statistics would mean much; the science behind COVID is pretty settled and there's a solid, highly-regarded (including internationally, at least until Trump) government agency that oversees that in the US (CDC); I don't see where discussing those numbers would even be valuable unless the company were flaunting COVID and the workers wanted action. I suppose when you say COVID stats, you might be referring to total nonsense stats, in which case I would agree those should be excluded from company chat.
That's just American politics: you never get what you asked for. I remember Dan Carlin saying something like "No matter who you vote for, you always get John McCain."