With around 67 percent of the U.S. population fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and new cases on a general downward trend since the start of the year, a new survey assesses the ‘Safest States During COVID-19’.
The survey comes from the personal finance site WalletHub. For the data review, the company compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across five key metrics.
Among the types of data considered were the level of COVID-19 community transmission, the rates of positive testing, hospitalizations and death, as well as the share of the eligible population getting vaccinated.
This analysis reveals the top ten safest states to be:
1. Kansas
2. North Carolina
3. Maine
4. Nebraska
5. District of Columbia
6. South Dakota
7. Iowa
8. Virginia
9. Alaska
10. Texas
In contrast, the top ten least safest states were assessed as:
42. New Jersey
43. Georgia
44. Wisconsin
45. Montana
46. North Dakota
47. Michigan
48. Kentucky
49. Nevada
50. West Virginia
51. Tennessee
While two-thirds in the U.S. are vaccinated, a sizable proportion remain not vaccinated (or not fully vaccinated). These individuals still have an impact.
According to Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst: “Our economic recovery will not reach its full potential until the vast majority of people who are medically able to get vaccinated do so.”
Gonzalez continues the warning: “The more people who decline to get vaccinated, the more risk there is to public health, especially as the new omicron COVID-19 variant spreads. The safety level of the country impacts the economy because it is tied to the lifting of restrictions and it determines how confident people are to go out and spend money.”
The continuing signs also indicate the next steps could be challenging, as Gonzalez observes: “While we have made a lot of progress with vaccination, recent polls have found that most people who are still unvaccinated do not plan to ever get the vaccine. Investing in campaigns to convince more people to get vaccinated may lead to bigger economic returns down the line.”
The data used were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and COVID-19 Electronic Laboratory Reporting.
