In a recent post, I compared the weekly one-week average in COVID-19 cases and deaths for the individual states with other countries. When normalized for population, a few key states were doing worse than most other countries around the world. I have found that is still the case, and the difference now is even more stark, despite a recent resurgence in some European nations. See the table below for a comparison of the weekly average number of new cases per million people.
Even though Spain has had a big resurgence in cases, it still lags behind five U.S. states – North and South Dakota, Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa. Of the nine U.S. states on this list, seven do not have a statewide mask mandate. Tennessee, despite a decline in cases, still outranks most other nations around the world in new cases and does not have a statewide mask mandate. The state of Alabama, which was high on the list two weeks ago, has dropped off, maybe because it does have a statewide requirement to wear a face covering in public.
There are claims that cases in the United States are higher than other countries because of more testing. However, when you look at a similar comparison of the weekly average of new deaths per million people, some U.S. states still outpace most other nations. See the table below for a comparison.
Deaths due to COVID-19 in Ecuador and Bolivia are much higher than anywhere else, but only five other countries can compete with many states. The seven states on this list are all in the southeast. Deaths lag cases, so in the next few weeks will likely show more midwest states on the new deaths list.
We are several months into the pandemic, but many states are still not implementing measures to control the spread of COVID-19. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia now require adults to wear face coverings in public. We need the other sixteen states to come on board in order to get a handle on the pandemic.