Being something of a numbers nerd, I got to wondering this morning where the Covid 19 epidemic was most severe. Simply looking at raw numbers of cases does not really tell much. Of course, States with large populations, like California and Texas, will probably have large numbers of cases, and States with small populations like the Dakotas, or Idaho, will have smaller numbers of cases. One way to compare apples to apples is to look at the number of reported cases per 100,000 people for each State..
The chart below does exactly that. It ranks the number of reported Covid 19 cases in each State, per 100,000 people, and shows where the epidemic is most out of control. After ranking State infection rates (based on data from each State’s Department of Health), I added another layer by noting whether the State’s governor is Republican or Democrat. The chart pretty much speaks for itself.
Seventeen States out of the worst twenty have Republican governors who drank the Trumpian Cool-aid about the epidemic. The lone Democratic-led State in the worst nine, is Louisiana, where a bad call about keeping Mardi Gras open led to widespread early infection.
Thirteen States out of the best 20 have Democratic governors who ignored the entire disinformation campaign the Trump administration has running since February.
The hardest hit State, North Dakota, has almost twice the infection rate of New York, and more than twice the infection rate of California, two of the earliest hard hit States. Even my rural state, Idaho, has higher rates of infection than California and New York. If the State’s largest. and only urban, county had not bucked the Republican governor and legislature, by imposing mask requirements and social distancing regulations, we would be right up there with the Dakotas and Florida.
State |
Popx100k |
total cases |
rate/100k |
Governor |
North Dakota |
762 |
35,939 |
47.2 |
Republican |
South Dakota |
884 |
36,017 |
40.7 |
Republican |
Louisiana |
4,649 |
181,904 |
39.1 |
Democrat |
Mississippi |
2,976 |
113,876 |
38.3 |
Republican |
Alabama |
4,903 |
177,064 |
36.1 |
Republican |
Iowa |
3,155 |
111,811 |
35.4 |
Republican |
Florida |
21,477 |
758,306 |
35.3 |
Republican |
Tennessee |
6,829 |
237,907 |
34.8 |
Republican |
Arkansas |
3,018 |
102,798 |
34.1 |
Republican |
Wisconsin |
5,822 |
195,823 |
33.6 |
Democrat |
Georgia |
10,617 |
345,535 |
32.5 |
Republican |
South Carolina |
5,149 |
167,485 |
32.5 |
Republican |
Arizona |
7,279 |
234,906 |
32.3 |
Republican |
Idaho |
1,787 |
56,660 |
31.7 |
Republican |
Nebrasha |
1,934 |
61,285 |
31.7 |
Republican |
Utah |
3,205 |
99,549 |
31.1 |
Republican |
Nevada |
3,080 |
92,853 |
30.1 |
Democrat |
Oklahoma |
3,957 |
118,841 |
30.0 |
Republican |
Texas |
28,995 |
846,100 |
29.2 |
Republican |
Illinois |
12,671 |
363,746 |
28.7 |
Democrat |
Rhode Island |
1,059 |
29,594 |
27.9 |
Democrat |
Missouri |
6,137 |
162,723 |
26.5 |
Republican |
Kansas |
2,913 |
74,456 |
25.6 |
Democrat |
New Jersey |
8,862 |
224,385 |
25.3 |
Democrat |
New York |
19,453 |
491,687 |
25.3 |
Democrat |
Montana |
1,068 |
26,320 |
24.6 |
Democrat |
Delaware |
974 |
23,687 |
24.3 |
Democrat |
North Carolina |
10,488 |
252,992 |
24.1 |
Democrat |
Indiana |
6,732 |
155,246 |
23.1 |
Republican |
Maryland |
6,046 |
138,691 |
22.9 |
Republican |
Minnesota |
5,640 |
128,152 |
22.7 |
Democrat |
Massachusetts |
6,893 |
153,823 |
22.3 |
Republican |
Californa |
39,512 |
880,724 |
22.3 |
Democrat |
Kentuxky |
4,468 |
92,299 |
20.7 |
Democrat |
Virginia |
8,536 |
171,284 |
20.1 |
Democrat |
New Mexico |
2,097 |
39,377 |
18.8 |
Democrat |
Connecticutt |
3,565 |
66,373 |
18.6 |
Democrat |
Wyoming |
579 |
10,119 |
17.5 |
Republican |
Michigan |
9,987 |
170,076 |
17.0 |
Democrat |
Ohio |
11,689 |
190,430 |
16.3 |
Republican |
Alasha |
731 |
11,837 |
16.2 |
Republican |
Colorado |
5,759 |
90,222 |
15.7 |
Democrat |
Pennsylvania |
12,802 |
188,360 |
14.7 |
Democrat |
Washington |
7,614 |
100,526 |
13.2 |
Democrat |
West Virginia |
1,792 |
21,057 |
11.8 |
Republican |
Hawaii |
1,416 |
14,284 |
10.1 |
Democrat |
Oregon |
4,217 |
40,819 |
9.7 |
Democrat |
New Hamphire |
1,360 |
9,994 |
7.3 |
Republican |
Maine |
1,344 |
6,095 |
4.5 |
Democrat |
Vermont |
624 |
1,987 |
3.2 |
Republican |