COVID-19: This Is the Safest State to Be In as Cases Surge

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Dec 9, 7:23AM EST

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COVID-19: This Is the Safest State to Be In as Cases Surge — © Bicho_raro / iStock via Getty Images

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States have rocketed above 15.2 million, and as many as 200,000 new ones are announced each day. Fatal cases have reached almost 290,000 and have started to jump by 1,500 per day. There is anxiety that the fatal case count per day could double within a month.

The figures for cases and deaths vary widely from state to state. What was a problem in the Northeast and Illinois and Michigan in March and April spread to the West and South in the summer. More recently, the Upper Midwest, particularly North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Minnesota have been savaged.

One state stands out with the lowest number of cases per 100,000, which is the standard measure of the presence of COVID-19 in any geographic area. Hawaii’s figure is 6.7. Vermont, the next state among those with the lowest confirmed case count per 100,000, has 19.2. At the far end of the spectrum, Rhode Island has 123.5, followed by Indiana at 102.6 and South Dakota at 98.9. The contrast between the top of the list and the bottom is staggering.

What Hawaii has done to keep cases down is not magic. It has followed strict protocols, particularly to keep outsiders out. According to The Wall Street Journal, “Hawaii tightened its rules this week so visitors must have proof of a negative test result by the time they land in Hawaii. Those who don’t will need to quarantine for 14 days or the full length of their trip, whichever is shorter, even if a negative test result becomes available after their arrival.” The cost of this has been a drop in tourism and substantial damage to the state’s economy.

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Mask wearing and social distancing are also part of day-to-day life, compared to states that have been hit much harder.

Base on a raw count of confirmed cases, Hawaii ranks third lowest in the country at 18,976. Maine has 14,049. Vermont’s count is 5,180. Hawaii also has had 262 fatal cases.

The largest states in terms of population have taken the brunt of the disease, as would be expected. California’s confirmed case count is 1,425,152. Coronavirus deaths number 20,238. The confirmed case count in Texas is 1,371,957. Fatal cases stand at 23,439. The confirmed case count in Florida is 1,073,770, with deaths at 19,627. In Illinois, confirmed cases are 805,794 and fatalities stand at 14,392.

New York State is a case unto itself. While it ranks fifth in confirmed cases at 728,010, coronavirus deaths there total 34,723. The state was so badly hit in March and April, particularly in New York City and the surrounding areas, that the fatal case number almost certainly will not be topped by any state, even as infections spread more rapidly nationwide.

From New York, Hawaii is worlds away.

These are the five most dangerous counties in each state for COVID-19.
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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.