The Surgo Foundation, a privately funded think tank, created an index that combines indicators specific to COVID-19 with the CDC’s social vulnerability index, which measures the expected negative impact of disasters of any type. The Surgo Foundation’s index takes into account factors that fall into one of several categories, including socioeconomic status, minority status, housing type, epidemiologic factors and health care system factors. Each state and the District of Columbia received a score in each category and an overall score, with a higher score indicating that the state is more vulnerable. Read more about the methodology here.
Here is each state’s ranking and composite score based on the vulnerability index:
1. Mississippi: 1
2. Louisiana: 0.98
3. Arkansas: 0.96
4. Oklahoma: 0.94
5. Alabama: 0.92
6. West Virginia: 0.9
7. New Mexico: 0.88
8. Nevada: 0.86
9. North Carolina: 0.84
10. South Carolina: 0.82
11. Kentucky: 0.8
12. Hawaii: 0.78
13. Tennessee: 0.76
14. Missouri: 0.74
15. Kansas: 0.72
16. Indiana: 0.7
17. Georgia: 0.68
18. Oregon: 0.66
19. District of Columbia: 0.64
20. New York: 0.62
21. Alaska: 0.6
22. Delaware: 0.58
23. Michigan: 0.56
24. Arizona: 0.54
25. Illinois: 0.52
26. Iowa: 0.5
27. Texas: 0.48
28. New Jersey: 0.46
29. Idaho: 0.44
30. Maryland: 0.42
31. Ohio: 0.4
32. Massachusetts: 0.38
33. Nebraska: 0.36
34. Florida: 0.34
35. Washington: 0.32
36. Connecticut: 0.3
37. Pennsylvania: 0.28
38. Montana: 0.26
39. Rhode Island: 0.24
40. Virginia: 0.22
41. South Dakota: 0.2
42. Utah: 0.18
43. Wyoming: 0.16
44. California: 0.14
45. Minnesota: 0.12
46. Colorado: 0.1
47. Wisconsin: 0.08
48. North Dakota: 0.06
49. Maine: 0.04
50. Vermont: 0.02
51. New Hampshire: 0
More articles on rankings and ratings:
10 best, worst states for children’s healthcare
West Virginia has most adults under 65 at high risk of serious coronavirus
15 cities with the most new COVID-19 cases, deaths
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