COVID Cases Are Rising Fastest in These Three States

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Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel, health, home/interior design and property/real estate. Soo covered the COVID-19 pandemic extensively from 2020 to 2022, including several interviews with the chief medical advisor to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Soo has reported on various major news events, including the Black Lives Matter movement, the U.S. Capitol riots, the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. and Canadian elections, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Soo is also a South Korea expert, covering the latest K-dramas—including the breakout hit Squid Game, which she has covered extensively, including from Seoul, the South Korean capital—as well as Korean films, such as the Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Past Lives, and K-pop news, to interviews with the biggest Korean actors, such as Lee Jung-jae from Squid Game and Star Wars, and Korean directors, such as Golden Globe and Oscar nominee Celine Song. Soo is the author of the book How to Live Korean, which is available in 11 languages, and co-author of the book Hello, South Korea: Meet the Country Behind Hallyu. Before Newsweek, Soo was a travel reporter and commissioning editor for the award-winning travel section of The Daily Telegraph (a leading U.K. national newspaper) for nearly a decade from 2010, reporting on the latest in the travel industry, from travel news, consumer travel and aviation issues to major new openings and emerging destinations. Soo is a graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the journalism school of City University in London, where she earned a Masters in international journalism. You can get in touch with Soo by emailing s.kim@newsweek.com . Follow her on Instagram at @miss.soo.kim or X, formerly Twitter, at @MissSooKim .Languages spoken: English and Korean

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Coronavirus cases in the U.S. continue to soar, with total confirmed infections approaching nearly 10.6 million, as of Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The average daily case count was reported to have increased over the past two weeks in all states, except for Georgia and Montana, as of Friday, according to Johns Hopkins.

Here we look at three states that have seen the largest rise in new cases per capita (100,000 people) over the last week, according to data compiled by The New York Times and National Geographic. All population data below from the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 2019.

Wyoming

Week-to-week increase in new cases per capita: 2,168

  • New cases per capita in week one (most recent week): 5,070
  • New cases per capita in week two (previous week): 2,902
  • Total confirmed cases: 20,479
  • Total population: 578,759

The seven-day moving average of daily new cases in Wyoming has been rising sharply since early September, after remaining flat for most of the outbreak since March. The figure hit a peak on Thursday at 792, the highest it's been since the outbreak began, according to data compiled by JHU.

Wyoming reported the fifth-highest number of cases per capita in the past seven days, according to the latest report Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Iowa

Week-to-week increase in new cases per capita: 11,046

  • New cases per capita in week one (most recent week): 30,609
  • New cases per capita in week two (previous week): 19,563
  • Total confirmed cases: 173,401
  • Total population: 3,155,070

The seven-day moving average of daily new cases in Iowa has been increasing on a sharp incline since late October, after flattening out for most of the outbreak since March. The average count reached a record level of 4,656 on Thursday, the highest it's been since the outbreak began, according to JHU.

Iowa was reported to have the third-highest number of infections per capita over the past week as well as since January 21, as of Thursday, according to the CDC.

Minnesota

Week-to-week increase in new cases per capita: 14,377

  • New cases per capita in week one (most recent week): 36,932
  • New cases per capita in week two (previous week): 22,555
  • Total confirmed cases: 201,851
  • Total population: 5,639,632

The seven-day moving average of daily new cases in Minnesota has been climbing sharply since late October, peaking at 5,368 on November 11, after remaining flat for months from March, according to JHU.

Minnesota ranks eighth place among the states that recorded the most number of cases per capita over the past week, according to the CDC.

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, June 2020
Visitors with masks walk to watch Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone National Park on June 15 outside Jackson, Wyoming. The state is among the top three states where new COVID-19 cases have been rising fastest.... Getty Images

The wider picture

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 53 million people since it was first reported in Wuhan, China.

Globally, more than 1.2 million have died while more than 34.2 million have recovered as of Friday, according to JHU.

The graphic below, provided by Statista, the spread of COVID-19 cases across the world.

coronvirus countries statista
The countries worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Statista
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About the writer

Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel, health, home/interior design and property/real estate. Soo covered the COVID-19 pandemic extensively from 2020 to 2022, including several interviews with the chief medical advisor to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Soo has reported on various major news events, including the Black Lives Matter movement, the U.S. Capitol riots, the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. and Canadian elections, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Soo is also a South Korea expert, covering the latest K-dramas—including the breakout hit Squid Game, which she has covered extensively, including from Seoul, the South Korean capital—as well as Korean films, such as the Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Past Lives, and K-pop news, to interviews with the biggest Korean actors, such as Lee Jung-jae from Squid Game and Star Wars, and Korean directors, such as Golden Globe and Oscar nominee Celine Song. Soo is the author of the book How to Live Korean, which is available in 11 languages, and co-author of the book Hello, South Korea: Meet the Country Behind Hallyu. Before Newsweek, Soo was a travel reporter and commissioning editor for the award-winning travel section of The Daily Telegraph (a leading U.K. national newspaper) for nearly a decade from 2010, reporting on the latest in the travel industry, from travel news, consumer travel and aviation issues to major new openings and emerging destinations. Soo is a graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the journalism school of City University in London, where she earned a Masters in international journalism. You can get in touch with Soo by emailing s.kim@newsweek.com . Follow her on Instagram at @miss.soo.kim or X, formerly Twitter, at @MissSooKim .Languages spoken: English and Korean

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Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in Read more