Is Remote North Dakota The “Safest State During COVID”?
North Dakota was skeptical in March of 2020. How could "we" the great natural social distancers have anything beyond a brief brush with COVID? We were way way way off on that. We went on to lead the nation in per capita infections. I wrote about it in September and Rockin' Rick followed up again in October We were statistically dredging the bottom at that time. But 5 months later North Dakota's back in the high life again!
Wallet Hub is going to throw a ton ot statistics at us saying that March 2021 is going pretty good for North Dakota. Flyover states rule again! Well kinda...
But, we can't beat the "you have to fly to" states. Sure North Dakota can seem remote, but Alaska and Hawaii are a jillion miles away! We have three bordering states that won't even return our calls. Fine, we're over them anyways. Let's see some of the numbers.
| 1 | Alaska | 80.14 |
| 2 | Hawaii | 79.79 |
| 3 | North Dakota | 74.53 |
| 4 | New Mexico | 71.03 |
| 5 | South Dakota | 70.03 |
| 6 | Minnesota | 69.68 |
| 7 | Montana | 69.24 |
WalletHub has five metrics they explore to come up with that total score on the right
WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across five key metrics. Our data set includes the rates of COVID-19 transmission, positive testing, hospitalizations and death, as well as the share of the eligible population getting vaccinated.
Interesting article, and anytime we seem to be cruising for the finish line- I'll be licking it up. We could all use a little good news these days. Top 5 in lowest positivity rate. Top 5 lowest hospitalization rate. Top 5 in highest vaccination rate. Suck it South Dakota!
But, they're not far behind. Good for them. You too Minnesota and Montana!
So let's try to keep our heads screwed on tight and continue to be reasonable about our reentry into celebrating our remoteness.
Keep up the good news y'all!
LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions
While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.