Hawaii ranked as safest state during COVID-19

Analysis of daily New York Times covid data reveals Hawaii as the safest state during covid, with the lowest covid death rate per 10,000 population.

Hawaii was named the safest state during COVID-19, according to a study by CovidScorecards.com, based on data from the New York Times.

CovidScorecards.com releases daily rankings by the state for covid deaths per 10,000 population. According to the latest analysis of the New York times data, CovidScorecards.com calculated Hawaii’s covid death rate per 10,000 population to be 3.8 as of August 6, 2021.

In contrast, New Jersey ranks worst among all states with a covid death rate of 30.0 per 10,000 population.

CovidScorecards.com bases its rankings exclusively on the covid mortality rate, adjusted by population. Simply providing absolute numbers without context to the associated population is meaningless. For example, California has the most confirmed covid-related deaths at 64,693. However, California also has the largest population among all states at over 39 million residents. Therefore, adjusting California’s covid deaths per 10,000 population ranks the golden state at #20, with #1 being the lost rate and #51 the highest rate.

Secondly, CovidScorecards.com does not factor the daily number of covid positive test results in its rankings. Why? Covid tests are subject to false-positive results, the severity of the positive test has wide variation, and states that test more will yield more positive tests. On the other hand, a covid-related death is incontrovertibly stated on one’s death certificate.

Mitch Clarke
CovidScorecards.com