COVID Cases Are Rising Fastest in These Three States

By Soo Kim On 11/13/20 at 12:28 PM EST

News Coronavirus United States Minnesota Iowa

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. continue to soar, with total confirmed infections approaching nearly 10.6 million, as of Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The average daily case count was reported to have increased over the past two weeks in all states, except for Georgia and Montana, as of Friday, according to Johns Hopkins.

Here we look at three states that have seen the largest rise in new cases per capita (100,000 people) over the last week, according to data compiled by The New York Times and National Geographic. All population data below from the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 2019.

Wyoming

Week-to-week increase in new cases per capita: 2,168

New cases per capita in week one (most recent week): 5,070
New cases per capita in week two (previous week): 2,902
Total confirmed cases: 20,479
Total population: 578,759

The seven-day moving average of daily new cases in Wyoming has been rising sharply since early September, after remaining flat for most of the outbreak since March. The figure hit a peak on Thursday at 792, the highest it's been since the outbreak began, according to data compiled by JHU.

Wyoming reported the fifth-highest number of cases per capita in the past seven days, according to the latest report Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Iowa

Week-to-week increase in new cases per capita: 11,046

New cases per capita in week one (most recent week): 30,609
New cases per capita in week two (previous week): 19,563
Total confirmed cases: 173,401
Total population: 3,155,070

The seven-day moving average of daily new cases in Iowa has been increasing on a sharp incline since late October, after flattening out for most of the outbreak since March. The average count reached a record level of 4,656 on Thursday, the highest it's been since the outbreak began, according to JHU.

Iowa was reported to have the third-highest number of infections per capita over the past week as well as since January 21, as of Thursday, according to the CDC.

Minnesota

Week-to-week increase in new cases per capita: 14,377

New cases per capita in week one (most recent week): 36,932
New cases per capita in week two (previous week): 22,555
Total confirmed cases: 201,851
Total population: 5,639,632

The seven-day moving average of daily new cases in Minnesota has been climbing sharply since late October, peaking at 5,368 on November 11, after remaining flat for months from March, according to JHU.

Minnesota ranks eighth place among the states that recorded the most number of cases per capita over the past week, according to the CDC.

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, June 2020 — Visitors with masks walk to watch Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone National Park on June 15 outside Jackson, Wyoming. The state is among the top three states where new COVID-19 cases have been rising fastest. Getty Images

The wider picture

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 53 million people since it was first reported in Wuhan, China.

Globally, more than 1.2 million have died while more than 34.2 million have recovered as of Friday, according to JHU.

The graphic below, provided by Statista, the spread of COVID-19 cases across the world.

coronvirus countries statista — The countries worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Statista

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