COVID Map Shows 12 States With Higher Death Rates

Twelve states were among those with an elevated number of deaths attributed to coronavirus in the latest recorded week, maps from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show.

Nationwide, COVID-19 was attributed to 3.6 percent of all deaths of any cause in the week ending January 27, according to the figures published Monday. The CDC said there had been no change in the proportion of deaths from the week prior.

Deaths with the virus had seen a rise since early November, creeping up from over 1,000 per week to more than 2,000 in the week ending January 6. However, the CDC now expects weekly death rates to fall, and the weekly totals are nowhere near the highest peak of the pandemic, in the week ending January 9, 2021, when nearly 26,000 deaths were recorded.

At the same time, hospitalizations with coronavirus have declined in January, dropping by 10.9 percent in the most recently recorded week. Overall, there were 22,636 new hospitalizations with COVID-19 across the U.S. in the week ending January 27.

The rise in cases early on in the winter now appears to have peaked. This winter has also seen early rises in other respiratory viruses, including the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

The uptick in hospitalizations is something health officials expected during the winter months. Colder weather tends to lead to an increased spread of viruses and other infections because immunity is lower.

There is often a delay between a patient being admitted to hospital with a serious infection with COVID-19 and it potentially causing their death, so a seasonal peak in hospitalizations may precede a peak in deaths by several weeks.

North Carolina had the highest percentage of deaths attributed to the virus in the latest recorded week—5.6 percent. Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Mississippi also had COVID-19 death rates of 5 percent or more.

Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee all had rates of 4 percent or more, while Puerto Rico was also placed into the elevated category.

Death counts were not listed for many states. The CDC said that this was because rates for states with fewer than 10 deaths in a week were not given due to confidentiality standards.

The CDC added that data for recent weeks may be incomplete “because of the lag in time between when a death occurs and when a death certificate is completed… and processed for reporting. This delay can range from 1 week to 8 weeks or more, depending on the jurisdiction.”

The CDC also said that those recorded included deaths in which COVID-19 was listed on a death certificate “as an underlying or contributing cause of death.” This suggests that the virus may have not been the main cause of death, but facilitated a deterioration of the person’s health.

Research has found that many of the deaths attributed to the virus were because it caused a deterioration in other, underlying health conditions patients had. One research paper from 2021 said that COVID-19 “largely multiplies existing risks faced by patients.”