JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — As the delta variant spreads, new daily cases of COVID-19 are on the rise once again in much of the United States.
Since the first known case was identified in the U.S. on Jan. 21, 2020, there have been a total of 38,158,500 reported cases of COVID-19 nationwide—or 11,663 per 100,000 people. Of course, infections are not evenly spread across the country, and some states have far higher infections rates per capita than others. The number of confirmed cases per 100,000 people ranges from as low as 3,919 to as high as 15,265, depending on the state.
Though the first case of the novel coronavirus in the United States was on the West Coast, the early epicenter of the outbreak was on the other side of the country, in New York City. In the months since, the parts of the country hit hardest by the virus shifted to the Southeast, the Midwest, and California.
Currently, the states with the lowest number of infections per capita tend to be concentrated in the West, while the states with the highest population-adjusted infection rates are most likely to be located in the South.
The severity of a COVID-19 outbreak across a given state is subject to a wide range of factors. Still, states that had a hands-off approach in the early days of the pandemic are more likely to be worse off today than those that adopted strict measures to control the spread. Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming were the only states that did not issue a statewide stay-at-home order in March or early April—and of those states, all eight currently have a higher infection rate than the U.S. as a whole.
Wall St. 24/7 provided a list of what states are getting it the worst right now.
Wyoming ranked #17 overall, ahead of Idaho and New York. COVID cases were up in 21 of Wyoming’s 23 counties with the exception of Carbon (down slightly) and Big Horn (unchanged). The data included numbers through August 27.
Wyoming #17 highest
Cumulative cases of COVID-19 as of August 27: 12,554 per 100,000 people (72,528 total cases)
COVID-19 related deaths as of August 27: 145 per 100,000 people (835 total deaths)
Population: 577,737
North Dakota was listed as the state with the most cases of COVID per capita. Maine had the least.
