Coronavirus still ravaging the six states that are reopening and has only been contained in 17 states, new data reveals – The Sun
CORONAVIRUS is still ravaging the six states that are reopening and the virus has only been contained in 17 others, new figures have revealed.
Data compiled by Rt.Live shows that the seven states that currently have no quarantine measures in place – Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming – have some of the highest rates of secondary infections across the US.
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The figures map the rate of secondary infections in each state, a score of one or above indicates infections have not been contained.
Among the 17 states that have managed to contain the spread are Pennsylvania, Vermont and Virgina, which have some of the lowest scores.
None of the six states which have said they are committed to partially lifting some of the restrictions have been able to limit the spread.
Oklahoma, Colorado, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas have all said they will lift at least some measures in the near future.
Due to the federal structure of the US, the governors for each state are responsible for any lockdown measures that may have been introduced.
The figures, which were published this week by Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, use effective reproduction (Rt) metrics from each state, including Washington DC, to show how the coronavirus has spread across the US since early March.
The data was taken from The COVID Tracking Project, which aggregates health and test results and then calculates the effective reproduction number, revealing the average number of people who can be infected by a single person.
The lower the number indicates fewer people are being infected due to social distancing and lockdown measures.
While the epicentre of the outbreak in the US has been New York, it has a 0.9 effective reproduction rate, indicating that while it has 257,000 confirmed cases, the lockdown measures that have been introduced since mid-March are having an impact.
Those measures will stay in place until at least May 15.
Oaklahoma governor Kevin Stitt said the state will begin to reopen Friday with barbershops, hair and nail salons, pet groomers and spas back opening their doors.
Others, including restaurants and movie theaters, can reopen within 10 days.
The state had a score of 1.01.
While the Republican governor of Georgia Brian Kemp is planning to lift the lockdown measures this week – despite objections from health officials – the state has a score of 1.03, indicating Covid-19 has not been generally contained.
A fierce debate about the effectiveness of the quarantine measures is currently raging across the country.
Health officials have been urging for the measures to be kept, saying they are needed to bring the virus under control although protests have been springing up with some people saying their civil liberties are being eroded and the measures are impacting on their economic livelihoods.
Protesters in Tennessee took to the streets yesterday demanding to be able to go back to work.
Healthcare workers across the country have stood in front of protesters, making their own statements to encourage people to stay home amid the coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump last week gave the nation's governors his road map for how the US can reopen businesses and schools shut down by the coronavirus.
The guidelines suggest that states should record two weeks of declining cases before reopening.
The latest figures show there have been more than 886,000 confirmed cases in the country with deaths exceeding 50,000.
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