U.S.

Just Surpassed 650,000 Covid

Deaths—These 8 States Have The
Highest Fatality Rates
Joe Walsh
Forbes Staff

Business

I cover breaking news for Forbes.

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TOPLINE

More than 650,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 as of Wednesday,

another jarring milestone in a pandemic that’s claimed more than 1,000 U.S.
lives per day on average — but some states have sustained especially large
death tolls:
An average of more than 1,100 people in the U.S. have died each day since the
nation's first ... [+]
 AFP /AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
KEY FACTS

At least 650,532 Americans have died from Covid-19 since the start of the
pandemic, averaging more than 1,100 deaths per day since the first
coronavirus death was reported in late February 2020, according to data
compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
New Jersey — which faced a brutal early surge of Covid-19 infections in spring
2020 — has the nation’s highest coronavirus death rate, totaling 303 fatalities
per 100,000 residents since the start of the pandemic last year, according
to CDC data.
Mississippi has the second-highest death rate, at 291 per 100,000 people, a
toll driven partly by a recent wave of infections that’s left Mississippi with the
nation’s third-highest rate of new cases per day in the last week.
New York has suffered 279 deaths per 100,000, the country’s third-highest
rate, according to CDC total death counts and Census Bureau population
figures — the death rate statistics published by the CDC list New York City
(403 deaths per 100,000) separately from the rest of New York state (184).
Another five states have death rates above 250 per 100,000 residents:
Louisiana (273), Massachusetts (265), Arizona (261), Rhode Island (261) and
Alabama (253).

Some 15 other states have suffered more than 200 deaths per 100,000
residents, including larger states like Pennsylvania (221), Florida (218),
Michigan (217), Georgia (217) and Illinois (210).
CONTRA

Just seven states have total death rates below 100 per 100,000 residents, led
by Hawaii (43) and Vermont (43), both of which imposed tight public health
restrictions in early 2020 and currently have some of the nation’s highest
Covid-19 vaccination rates. Other states with low overall death tolls include
Alaska (59), Maine (70), Oregon (77), Utah (82) and Washington (87).
TANGENT

The United States is still logging more than 1,400 new deaths per day on
average, according to Johns Hopkins. Texas has the nation’s highest rate of
new deaths (5.9 deaths per 100,000 in the last seven days), followed by
Mississippi (5.4) and Arkansas (5.2), per the CDC. Meanwhile, 11 states
reported less than one death per 100,000 in the last week: California (0.4),
Rhode Island (0.4), North Dakota (0.5), Michigan (0.6), South Dakota (0.6),
Maine (0.7), Minnesota (0.7), New Hampshire (0.7), Indiana (0.8),
Massachusetts (0.8) and Missouri (0.8).
KEY BACKGROUND

The United States reported its first Covid-19 fatality more than 18 months ago:
a man in his 50s from Washington state. Since then, the country has lost more
lives to the disease than any other place on Earth, accounting for about 14% of
the pandemic’s worldwide toll. The first wave of U.S. deaths came in spring
2020, a surge felt most acutely in northeastern states like New York and New
Jersey, and fatalities ticked up again last summer and winter. Most recently,
Covid-19 cases and deaths began spiking in July as the virus’ more contagious
delta variant became dominant: Cases rose in all 50 states this summer, but
some of the hardest-hit places have lower than average rates of Covid-19
vaccination.
SURPRISING FACT

Seniors account for more than 78% of the United States’ total Covid-19 deaths,
according to CDC figures. Possibly as a result, some 92.4% of U.S. seniors have
taken at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot, almost 20 points above the overall
vaccination rate for eligible Americans.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW

Many experts believe coronavirus deaths are

significantly undercounted because not all cases are properly identified.

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Joe Walsh
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I am a breaking news reporter at Forbes. I previously covered local news for the Boston Guardian,
and I graduated from Tufts University in 2019. You can contact me at
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