As more and more Americans are directly impacted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, TicketNews will continue to provide occasional statistical updates reflecting the actual numbers, in hopes of injecting a bit of perspective.
Governors in 12 states – California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and West Virginia – have announced stay-at-home orders designed to minimize spread of the disease while researchers develop solutions and health care systems brace for potential waves of cases. While the numbers are high and obviously expected to continue to go up as more and more individuals get tested, the raw numbers are still a tiny fraction of the U.S. population, which should give some hope that if people hold to social distancing measures and blunt the rapid growth of the outbreak, things could be getting back to normal on far better than the most dire of proposed timelines we’ve seen in the early days of this.
New York, which has become the epicenter of the pandemic, crossed the 20,000 known case barrier Monday, sitting at 20,875 total case mark – more than 50% of the total cases that are currently known to exist in America. Even there, however, the number of known cases per 1,000 residents has just passed one. 1.073, to be exact. A total of seven jurisdictions – New York, New Jersey, Washington, Louisiana, Washington D.C., Michigan and Colorado – currently show above 0.1 residents per 1,000 having tested positive. New Jersey is No. 2 behind its neighbor with 0.32 cases per 1,000.
These statistics are not intended to downplay the seriousness of the current outbreak, nor to discourage anyone from doing their part by staying home as much as they can and practicing safe social distancing measures when they must leave home to minimize their chances of catching or spreading this aggressive virus. But it is valuable to take a step back from the panic and understand the numbers from a different perspective.
Known Coronavirus Cases Per 1,000 Residents
| New York | 1.073 |
| New Jersey | 0.320 |
| Washington | 0.262 |
| Louisiana | 0.180 |
| District of Columbia | 0.164 |
| Michigan | 0.123 |
| Colorado | 0.103 |
| Massachusetts | 0.093 |
| Connecticut | 0.092 |
| Mississippi | 0.084 |
| Vermont | 0.083 |
| Illinois | 0.083 |
| Maine | 0.080 |
| Rhode Island | 0.078 |
| Tennessee | 0.077 |
| Wisconsin | 0.065 |
| Nevada | 0.062 |
| Georgia | 0.058 |
| Delaware | 0.058 |
| New Hampshire | 0.057 |
| Utah | 0.056 |
| Arkansas | 0.055 |
| Florida | 0.055 |
| Pennsylvania | 0.050 |
| Maryland | 0.048 |
| California | 0.046 |
| Wyoming | 0.045 |
| Alaska | 0.044 |
| Minnesota | 0.042 |
| Hawaii | 0.040 |
| North Dakota | 0.039 |
| Indiana | 0.038 |
| Oregon | 0.038 |
| South Carolina | 0.038 |
| Iowa | 0.033 |
| Alabama | 0.032 |
| Montana | 0.032 |
| South Dakota | 0.032 |
| New Mexico | 0.031 |
| Ohio | 0.030 |
| Virginia | 0.030 |
| North Carolina | 0.029 |
| Idaho | 0.026 |
| Texas | 0.025 |
| Kentucky | 0.023 |
| Kansas | 0.022 |
| Nebraska | 0.022 |
| Arizona | 0.021 |
| Missouri | 0.021 |
| Oklahoma | 0.020 |
| West Virginia | 0.009 |
State population figures via 2019 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau | Coronavirus infection numbers via the Worldometer Coronavirus Tracker (as of 2PM Monday March 23)
