Report for the Rates of Infection for the week ending September 26

Washington, DC, includes all its historical COVID-19 reports on its main page, a long column of information. As of late, they have been handling their viral outbreaks well. When compared to the states, they have the eighth best record of having the fewest new cases per million population for the week ending September 26th and perform the second-highest testing when adjusted for population. 

Sorry, I am always a week late with these updates. Some states do not report their weekend figures until Tuesday. Still, that doesn't mean I can't look up the latest data. Between October 1st and 2nd, they had 50 new positive tests. It is likely that the outbreak that has infected Donald Trump will cause a measurable bump in their total cases. 

North and South Dakota again dominate the case rates for this past week, making it four straight weeks that they are numbers one and two. What's more remarkable is that they have continued to rise. This past week North Dakota, adjusted for population - and it is not a populous state - has had the second worse rate of new cases of any state since the beginning of the outbreak. Only Florida at its peak was worse.

In fact all of the states that border South Dakota (North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota) have had remarkable increases in the number of new infections over the past month and a half.

As I've mentioned before, here, and in subsequent posts, the Sturgis, South Dakota cycle rally which ended August 16th, was a superinfection event. 

Here are the weekly rates of new cases per million in South Dakota and its bordering states for the weeks ending August 15 and September 26.

Here are the new case rates in 49 states and the District of Colombia for the week ending September 26th, adjusted for population. Texas made some corrections to its case numbers this week and is left off. 

Here is the rate of testing, from Pennsylvania with the lowest rate to Rhode Island with the highest rate. Kentucky and New Hampshire made adjustments and are left out. 

Here are the death rates. Death rates are stubborn, slow to go down. Some states that haven't had high case rates for months, still maintain a high rate of deaths. Vermont hasn't had a COVID-19 death since August.

Finally, here are the positivity rates. Left off are those adjusting either tests or cases (Texas, New Hampshire and Kentucky). Maine edged out Vermont due to the high testing rate of the former.

Martin Hill Ortiz is a Professor of Pharmacology at Ponce Health Sciences University and has researched HIV for over thirty years.

https://mdhillortiz.com/