Map reveals US covid hotspots with high delta numbers and low vaccinations
Unvaccinated people in central and western parts of the US in greatest danger of being infected
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A dozen US states mostly clustered across the central and western parts of the country are now areas where there is a high risk of Covid-19 transmission due to below-average vaccination rates and rising case numbers, according to researchers from several prominent US universities.
Data analysed by the Covid Act Now project, which is partnered with Stanford, Georgetown, and a nonprofit associated with Harvard, indicated last week that residents of Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Nevada, Missouri, Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma were now at “high” risk of contracting the virus if unvaccinated.
Over the weekend two more states were added to that list — South Carolina and Florida – while Maryland moved from “low” to “medium” risk.
Just two states are now considered to be low-risk areas; Vermont and Massachusetts, which are also the two states ranked highest in the nation for vaccinated citizens per capita.
Among the states on the high-risk list are some of the areas with the lowest vaccination rates in the country, including Mississippi, where just over a third of adults have received their first dose, compared to about two thirds of the country as a whole.
Concern about rising rates of Covid-19 in some areas comes as the so-called delta variant has been detected in all 50 US states; the variant is thought to be more contagious than previous versions of the virus, including up to 50 per cent more so than the alpha variant according to Yale Medicine.
“In a completely unmitigated environment — where no one is vaccinated or wearing masks — it’s estimated that the average person infected with the original coronavirus strain will infect 2.5 other people,” F Perry Wilson, a Yale Medicine epidemiologist, said in an interview posted on the school’s website.
“In the same environment, Delta would spread from one person to maybe 3.5 or 4 other people.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments