COVID-19: More Than 20,000 People Have Died in These 4 States

Health and Healthcare

Published: December 16, 2020 7:22 am

As U.S. COVID-19 deaths race ahead of 300,000 and increase at a rate of as much as 3,000 a day, four states have a large percentage of these fatal cases. Geographically, they are spread across the northeast, west and south. Not surprisingly, they are some of the largest states by population.

The four states are also among those with the highest confirmed COVID-19 cases, a figure which now sits above 16.6 million.

The state with the most fatal cases remains New York. It took its place at the top of the list early in the pandemic as it, particularly New York City, was blitzed by the disease in March and April, taking a terrible toll. At 35,288, the New York coronavirus death count is more than 50% higher than any other state. Many of these deaths happened in New York City, where three counties are among the worst by fatal case count in the country. Queens County has had 5,243 deaths. Kings County, which is the borough of Brooklyn, has had 5,262. Bronx County has seen 3,464.

California has had 21,200 fatal cases. The state leads the nation in confirmed cases at 1,621,323. The deaths are heavily concentrated in Los Angeles County, the largest in the nation by population. There have been 8,298 fatalities from the disease there, the most of any county in America.

Texas has posted 23,937 fatal cases. It ranks second among all states based on confirmed cases at 1,337,096. Two counties have a very large share of the deaths. Harris County, home to Houston, has had 3,150, and Dallas County has had 1,728.

Florida has had 20,270 fatal cases. It ranks third among all states in confirmed cases at 1,134,383. A large concentration of the deaths is in Miami-Dade County, which has posted 4,002.

All these figures are bound to soar. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine has one of the most carefully followed and widely regarded COVID-19 prediction models for deaths, daily infections, testing, mask use, hospital resource use and social distancing. Its scientists forecast that 509,000 Americans will die by April 1, if Americans do not take more aggressive measures to arrest the spread of the disease.

This is the state where people are most likely to die of COVID-19.