In the past three days, Louisiana and Arizona have surpassed New York State as the two states with the highest per capita coronavirus case rate, according to worldometers.info.
In addition, a projection from Harvard reported by NPR, shows that Mississippi is headed to a dubious honor: leading the nation in new coronavirus cases per capita, a title currently held by Florida.
Louisiana has just below 26,000 cases per million population, while Arizona is second with 24,600. New York, which has seen a steady decline in the number of new cases reported, is third in the nation with around 23,000 cases per million.
As reported by NPR, Mississippi is in the “top tier” of the nation in per capita cases of chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and obesity, making the state’s population more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
Additionally, Mississippi is currently trailing the national average in tests per capita, so as more people get tested, the more new cases will be identified.
As cases develop, Mississippi officials will face an already stressed health care system because only 17% of ICU beds in the state are available now.