DALLAS (NEXSTAR) — While the breach of the U.S. Capitol and Georgia election have dominated headlines over the last few days, COVID-19 cases have quietly continued to surge across the United States with deaths and hospitalizations hitting new records this week.
On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported nearly 3,900 new deaths as the COVID-19 Tracking Project revealed more than 132,000 Americans were hospitalized. The U.S. is now averaging 230,000 daily coronavirus cases – and that’s with a major lag in testing and data due to the recent holidays.
More than 360,000 Americans have been killed in the U.S., and the international death toll is closing in on 2 million. December was by far the nation’s deadliest month yet, and health experts are warning that January could be more terrible still because of family gatherings and travel over the holidays.
California has been in the headlines for a surge in deaths and infections. However, there are a number of other states seeing similar jumps in death rates.
It’s also worth noting a majority of states are seeing declines in death rates. It’ll be another week or so before we know whether that’s due to holiday data and reporting lags or reflective of the true situation.
Nevertheless, here’s a breakdown using data from the New York Times on which states are seeing the biggest increases in deaths.
States with rising deaths (14-day change):
- Hawaii +100%*
- California +50%
- Washington +50%
- Vermont +50%
- South Carolina +46%
- New Hampshire +44%
- Massachusetts +33%
- Wyoming +31%
- New Jersey +22%
- Arizona +18%
- Connecticut +16%
- Oklahoma +16%
- Florida +15%
- New York +15%
- Kansas +13%
- Mississippi +11%
- Georgia +11%
- North Dakota +8%
- Indiana +7%
- New Mexico +6%
- West Virginia +5%
*Hawaii is currently reporting roughly 10 daily deaths
States with decreasing deaths (14-day change):
- Rhode Island -1%
- Pennsylvania -2%
- Nevada -3%
- Virginia -4%
- North Carolina -5%
- Maryland -5%
- Texas -6%
- Idaho -10%
- Ohio -12%
- Arkansas -13%
- Illinois -13%
- Alaska -14%
- Maine -14%
- Nebraska -17%
- Louisiana -20%
- Tennessee -20%
- Montana -20%
- Utah -21%
- Michigan -21%
- Kentucky -22%
- Iowa -24%
- Colorado -24%
- Minnesota -31%
- Delaware -33%
- Oregon -35%
- South Dakota -38%
- Missouri -41%
- Alabama -43%
- Wisconsin -46%
Additionally, a new, more contagious variant of the virus is taking hold around the globe and in the U.S.
As of Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 5.3 million people in the U.S. had gotten their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine — well short of the hundreds of millions of Americans who will need to be vaccinated to stop the virus.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
