“We found that states with higher rates of poverty, lower educational attainment and lower rates of interpersonal trust — which is the trust that we place in one another — were all states that exhibited higher death rates and higher infection rates,” Emma Castro, PhD, a researcher at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation and co-author of the study said in a video statement shared with Becker’s.
The study, published in The Lancet, is said to be the “first time researchers have comprehensively examined the driving forces behind wide variations in SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 deaths across all states,” for an extended time period, according to a news release shared with Becker’s.
“Even after accounting for age and underlying illnesses, we observed a nearly four-fold difference in COVID-19 death rates across states, suggesting that the country as a whole could have performed much better,” Dr. Castro said.
The analysis looked at cumulative COVID-19 death rates between January 2020 and July 2022. Results were also standardized for age and comorbidities.
Here are the 10 states with the highest death rates per 100,000 people:
- Arizona: 581 per 100,000
- District of Columbia: 526
- New Mexico: 521
- Mississippi: 488
- Colorado: 473
- Idaho: 469
- Utah: 467
- Nevada: 453
- Georgia: 447
- Alaska: 443
States found to have the lowest death rates per 100,000 people include:
- Hawaii:147 per 100,000
- New Hampshire: 215
- Maine: 218
- Vermont: 249
- Maryland: 285
- Washington: 286
- Connecticut: 293
- Ohio: 293
- Pennsylvania: 297
- Nebraska: 298
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