Health and Healthcare

This State Economy Recovered Best From The Pandemic

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: June 21, 2021 8:08 am

The COVID-19 pandemic took a brutal hit on the American economy in the spring of 2020. Unemployment briefly reached levels just shy of The Great Depression. Sectors, lead by retail and hospitality, were undermined by bankruptcies and hundreds of thousands of layoffs. Since then, the economic recovery of the U.S. has been uneven, by both sector and location.

A total of 607,476 Americans have died from COVID-19, accounting for about 16% of the world’s total. The total U.S. cases have reached 33,665,482, or about 19% of the world’s figure. However, the spread of the virus has slowed considerably in the U.S., as have fatal case totals per day. New cases currently rise at under 25,000 a day. At the start of the year, that figure was over 200,000 a day. Deaths, which rose at the rate of over 3,000 some days at the start of the year, have dropped to a few hundred per day.

Vaccination totals and rates have been crucial in helping to slow the U.S. spread. Currently, 55% of those over 18 who are fully vaccinated. Already, 316,048,776 vaccine shots have been given.

State economies have recovered at different rates, based largely on COVID-19 safety, consumer confidence, and job market strength, according to a new study from marketing agencies network Top Agency titled “Pandemic Recovery Index”. The research looked at 48 states across 23 metrics. Each state was given a score.

The state that has recovered the most is Vermont with a score of 65.94. Perhaps it is a coincidence that Vermont has the highest vaccination rate in the U.S. Vermont is followed by Mississippi. That is unexpected and hard to explain since Mississippi has among the weakest economies in the nation — and one of the worst vaccination rates. Mississippi’s score is 65.03.

The bottom state is Michigan with a score of 40.45. Its score for consumer confidence is particularly poor. New York state ranks second from the bottom with a score of 43.20. It ranks poorly in both consumer confidence and job market strength.

Even if some parts of the Top Agency research do not make sense, the research does indicate that some states have been much better off recently, economically.

Click here to read States Where The Most People Are Refusing Vaccine