5 Worst States for COVID-19 Mortality Change Now
The number of new COVID-19 patients flowing into adult hospital intensive care unit (ICU) beds may be starting to flatten out — partly because, in some states, adult ICU units are full — but the U.S. COVID-19 death rate is increasing in most states. In the typical state, patients with COVID-19 occupied about 25% of staffed adult ICU beds during the week ending Aug. 31, according to data collected by the Data Strategy and Execution Workgroup, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was up 3 percentage points from the state median for the week ending Aug. 24. The COVID-19 adult ICU bed ranged from 6%, in New Jersey, up to 55%, in Mississippi. The change in the number of deaths was more dramatic. The HHS recorded 6,789 COVID-19 deaths in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for the week ending Aug. 31, up 37% from the week before. At the state level, the change in the number of deaths ranged from a decrease of 77%, in Florida, up to an increase of 182%, in one state in Appalachia. Health insurers have reported that decreases in spending on ordinary care tend to offset increases in spending on COVID-19 care, but increases in mortality could have a direct effect on life insurers' and life reinsurers' spending on death benefits. For COVID-19 ICU occupancy and mortality figures for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, see the table below. For the names of the five states with the worst increases in COVID-19 mortality, see the slideshow above.
Hospital Adult Intensive Care Unit Occupancy and Mortality | ||||
| (As of the week ending Aug. 31) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Staffed ICU Beds Occupied by COVID-19 Patients (in percent) | Change in Staffed Adult ICU Beds Occupied by COVID-19 Patients, Since Previous Week (in percentage points) | Deaths (last 7 days) | Change in Deaths, Since Previous Week (in percent) | |
| Alabama | 49% | 2% | 89 | -10% |
| Alaska | 30% | 4% | 21 | 91% |
| Arizona | 22% | 2% | 187 | 38% |
| Arkansas | 45% | 1% | 208 | 1% |
| California | 28% | 2% | 159 | -54% |
| Colorado | 21% | 3% | 51 | 38% |
| Connecticut | 9% | 2% | 23 | -18% |
| Delaware | 17% | 3% | 23 | 44% |
| District of Columbia | 8% | 0% | 4 | -20% |
| Florida | 48% | -2% | 230 | -77% |
| Georgia | 46% | 1% | 378 | 52% |
| Hawaii | 39% | 8% | 25 | 108% |
| Idaho | 46% | 4% | 30 | -40% |
| Illinois | 14% | 1% | 197 | 30% |
| Indiana | 25% | 4% | 156 | 117% |
| Iowa | 21% | 5% | 42 | 162% |
| Kansas | 27% | 1% | 59 | -43% |
| Kentucky | 38% | 8% | 183 | 182% |
| Louisiana | 48% | 1% | 382 | -3% |
| Maine | 18% | 5% | 8 | -50% |
| Maryland | 13% | 1% | 58 | 2% |
| Massachusetts | 11% | 3% | 50 | 61% |
| Michigan | 11% | 3% | 85 | 25% |
| Minnesota | 17% | 3% | 36 | 20% |
| Mississippi | 55% | 0% | 178 | 55% |
| Missouri | 36% | -1% | 234 | 4% |
| Montana | 25% | 3% | 27 | 12% |
| Nebraska | 17% | -1% | 10 | 0% |
| Nevada | 34% | 0% | 173 | 49% |
| New Hampshire | 11% | 1% | 14 | 100% |
| New Jersey | 6% | 1% | 109 | 85% |
| New Mexico | 33% | 4% | 31 | 19% |
| New York | 9% | 1% | 184 | 12% |
| North Carolina | 37% | 5% | 213 | 21% |
| North Dakota | 9% | 1% | 7 | 40% |
| Ohio | 16% | 3% | 110 | 47% |
| Oklahoma | 42% | 2% | 189 | 42% |
| Oregon | 31% | 6% | 119 | 37% |
| Pennsylvania | 13% | 3% | 136 | 21% |
| Rhode Island | 14% | 3% | 12 | 50% |
| South Carolina | 40% | 3% | 238 | 33% |
| South Dakota | 18% | 4% | 10 | 150% |
| Tennessee | 37% | 5% | 225 | 84% |
| Texas | 50% | 3% | 1,381 | 50% |
| Utah | 27% | 3% | 44 | -6% |
| Vermont | 9% | -1% | 5 | 25% |
| Virginia | 18% | 2% | 149 | 119% |
| Washington | 31% | 5% | 151 | 12% |
| West Virginia | 26% | 6% | 58 | 107% |
| Wisconsin | 17% | 2% | 72 | 47% |
| Wyoming | 29% | 10% | 26 | 62% |
| TOTAL | - | - | 6,789 | - |
| MEDIAN | 25% | 3% | - | 37% |
| Source: HHS | ||||
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