“>PLEASE NOTE
The Washington Post is providing this story for free so that all readers have access to this important information about the coronavirus. For more free stories, sign up for our daily Coronavirus Updates newsletter.
The disease caused by the novel coronavirus has killed at least people in the United States since February. By April 13, it had killed in every state.
After weeks of near universal sheltering in place, the overall daily toll has begun to decline, because of a sharp decrease in deaths and reported infections in some of the hardest-hit urban centers. But the virus is accelerating in other areas.
As of mid-May, every state had plans to loosen restrictions on activities and businesses as public health officials urge caution to avoid another surge.
[Where states are reopening]
At least have been reported since Feb. 29.
7-day rolling average
Along the way, criteria for reporting deaths has changed in some states and cities. New York City in mid-April added more than 3,700 deaths of people who were presumed to have covid-19 but were never tested.
Even now, jurisdictions continue to fine-tune their counting and reporting procedures, so numbers in this piece may fluctuate as authorities reclassify cases.
[Mapping the spread of the coronavirus worldwide]
Health officials agree that the number of reported cases is much lower than the actual number of people who have covid-19, because testing was slow to begin, and as of mid-May, far fewer U.S. residents have been tested than experts say is necessary to get a true picture of the viruss reach.
The virus continues to kill in New York, where at least cases have been reported and at least have died. But the pace has slowed considerably from the peak weeks in March and April when more than 1,000 died on some days.
Numbers of new deaths were also trending downward in Detroit, New Orleans and Chicago.
The District of Columbia and its suburbs, as well as Baltimore and Richmond, have seen enough recent cases that governors of Maryland and Virginia excluded the areas while allowing other parts of their states to begin reopening.
[Tracking known coronavirus cases in D.C., Maryland and Virginia]
Adjusted for populationRaw numbers
Deaths reported per 100,000 residents
Adjusted for populationRaw numbers
State | Reported casesper 100k | Deaths per 100k | New deaths since | Pct. change |
---|
Meanwhile, smaller pockets of the virus continue to arise.
In Florida, home to millions of retirees, 1 of every 4 covid-19 deaths has been associated with a long-term care facility, according to recently released numbers. Most deaths worldwide have occurred among people older than 50 and those with underlying health problems, as they are often most vulnerable to respiratory disease. The first U.S. outbreak took root in Seattle-area nursing facilities.
Meat and poultry processing plants have experienced large, localized outbreaks. Workers at least 115 plants in 19 states have tested positive, according to a May 1 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In states including South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Washington and Indiana, so many workers tested positive that plants were forced to cut production or close. Pork production fell an estimated 50 percent.
[What you need to know about coronavirius]
Sparsely populated rural areas dont have the huge raw numbers of cases or deaths that cities are reporting, but some rank highly in deaths and cases per capita. People in very rural areas are more likely to die of flu than urbanites and may be more vulnerable to covid-19 as well, according to a Post analysis of CDC data.
Thousands have become ill in Navajo Nation, a reservation with a land area similar in size to West Virginia covering swaths of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah but with a population of only 350,000. Medical care in the area is sparse and far-flung, cell service is spotty and about a third of homes lack running water.
Adjusted for populationRaw numbers
County | Reported casesper 100k | Deaths per 100k |
---|
A handful of counties in southwestern Georgia have some of the highest and most persistent rates of infection and deaths in the country.
On April 16, as the virus appeared to be waning in some places and just arriving in others, the Trump administration released a framework for reopening the country. The first states began to loosen restrictions shortly afterward, and all 50 states planned to begin reopening in some form by Memorial Day weekend.
Adjusted for populationRaw numbers
Tests reported per 100,000 residents
State | Tests reported | Tests per 100k |
---|
According to the presidents guidelines, accurate and thorough test results are necessary so that officials can make informed decisions about easing stay-at-home restrictions.
Because there is no coordinated national testing system, testing criteria and frequency vary widely among states and even among localities within states. Widespread implementation of testing has also experienced significant delays. As a result, some states and areas test much higher percentages of their populations than others, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
And plenty of states are opening without meeting benchmarks for testing and other criteria.
About this story
Data on deaths and cases comes from Post reporting and Johns Hopkins University. Post-reported data is gathered from state sites and from county and city sites for certain jurisdictions. Deaths are recorded on the dates they are announced, not necessarily the dates they occur. All numbers are provisional and may be revised by the jurisdictions.
On April 14, New York City authorities began including probable covid-19 deaths, which added more than 3,700 previous deaths to the city’s total.
Population data are five-year estimates from the 2018 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau.
State stay-at-home order data from Post reporting. State-of-emergency declarations were tallied by Boston University’s covid-19 U.S. state policy database.
Testing data is from the Covid-19 Tracking Project.
Bonnie Berkowitz, Jacqueline Dupree, Armand Emamdjomeh, Simon Glenn-Gregg, Erik Reyna and Susan Tyler contributed to this report.
Recent changes on this page