Daily counts of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. reached a record 91,295 on Thursday – the largest increase in new infections in one day since the outbreak began.
Here we look at five states that, according to the New York Times, had the largest increase in new cases per capita (100,000 people) last week. All U.S. Census Bureau population data listed below, as of July 2019.
Alabama
Weekly increase in new cases per capita: 4,335
New cases per capita in the first week (most recent week): 12,032
New cases per capita in the second week (previous week): 7,697
Total confirmed cases: 189,149
Total population: 4,903,185
The number of daily new cases in Alabama has increased sharply since the beginning of October, after having levelled off since early September. The seven-day moving average began to decline in mid-July, reaching a high of 1,918 on July 16 after rising since late March, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
Iowa
Weekly increase in new cases per capita: 2,652
New cases per capita in the first week (most recent week): 10,191
New cases per capita in the second week (previous week): 7,539
Total confirmed cases: 122,950
Total population: 3,155,070
The number of new cases occurring daily in Iowa has been increasing since early August. The seven-day moving average flattened from the end of May, after rising from the end of March, according to the JHU.
South Dakota
Weekly increase in new cases per capita: 2,127
New cases per capita in the first week (last week): 6,956
New cases per capita in week two (previous week): 4,829
Total confirmed cases: 43,000
Total population: 884,659
South Dakota reported the second-highest number of new cases per capita in the country last week (after North Dakota), according to the latest report from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday.
The number of new cases per day in the state has risen sharply since mid-August, after levelling off since late March. The seven-day moving average reached a high of 997 on October 26, according to the JHU.
Alaska
Weekly increase in new cases per capita: 1,038
New cases per capita in the first week (most recent week): 2,494
New cases per capita in week two (previous week): 1,456
Total confirmed cases: 15,417
Total population: 731,545
The number of daily new infections in Alaska has risen sharply since mid-September, after having levelled off since early August. The seven-day moving average remained flat from mid-March to the end of May, before it rose until the end of July according to the JHU and then fell briefly until early August.
Wyoming
Weekly increase in new cases per capita: 627
New cases per capita in the first week (most recent week): 2,298
New cases per capita in the second week (previous week): 1,671
Total confirmed cases: 12,507
Total population: 578,759
Among all states, Wyoming had the fifth highest number of new infections per capita in the past week, according to the CDC.
The seven-day moving average of new infections in Wyoming has risen sharply since September, according to JHU, after flattening out for months since mid-March.
The overall picture
The novel coronavirus has infected more than 45.1 million people worldwide, including over 8.9 million in the United States, since its first report in Wuhan, China.
Worldwide, more than 1.1 million people have died as a result of the infection, while more than 30.3 million are reported to have recovered by Friday, according to the JHU.
The following chart, created by Statista, illustrates the prevalence of COVID-19 cases in the USA
7-day moving average.
