These States Are Safest During the Pandemic

You'll fare best dealing with COVID in Alaska, worst in Arizona
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 23, 2021 4:10 PM CST
Here Are the 10 Safest, Least Safe States for COVID
Thumbs-up to Alaska!   (Getty Images/JNemchinova)

As the rollout of the various coronavirus vaccines continues, there's now a (still somewhat distant) light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. But with months to go before much of the population is vaccinated, it's important to keep up with safety and health guidelines, and to keep tabs on local stats. That last part is going to vary based on where you live, as some US states are doing much better than others at keeping COVID in check and distributing the vaccine. WalletHub looked at all 50 states using just five key metrics—vaccination rate, positive testing rate, hospitalization rate, estimated transmission rate, and death rate—to see which were safest and which could use improvement. The top and bottom performers:

Best States

  1. Alaska
  2. Vermont
  3. Colorado
  4. Montana
  5. North Dakota
  6. Hawaii
  7. Iowa
  8. Utah
  9. Minnesota
  10. Missouri

Worst States

  1. Kansas
  2. Arkansas
  3. Pennsylvania
  4. California
  5. Georgia
  6. South Carolina
  7. Nevada
  8. Mississippi
  9. Alabama
  10. Arizona
See how other states fared here. (More US states stories.)

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