New York State is currently a rising COVID outlier in the United States

COVID-19 case rates rose across the country this fall. And, in most cases, those rates peaked. In some states the peak was in mid-November. In others it was late November In others it was early December. In others it was mid-December.

But in New York State the case rate continues to rise.

Right before Thanksgiving Andrew Cuomo held a press conference. He went on and on about how well New York was doing. The big problems, he claimed, were in North Dakota and Wyoming. He said Wyoming three, four, five times. He dragged out the “O” to make it a four syllable word. To make it sound strange. He enjoyed making fun of other people.

At that moment Wyoming had a case rate of about 130 per 100,000, while New York’s was about 25 per 100,000. Now, 25 is not good. NPR has a Coronavirus by the numbers page, and draws data from Johns Hopkins and Harvard. I went to that page, and looked at the heatmap, where they indicate that 25+ indicates unchecked community spread.

It’s a good map, right? But there is a difference between 25 and 130. I made my own map, which I proceeded to update every few days. Look at how that bad rate in the upper plains dissipates, and watch as other regions’ rates rise, and then fall. That pale yellow? That’s still bad, that’s over 25.

November 22:

December 2:

December 12:

December 22:

December 29:

Does New York have the highest rate in the country? Absolutely not.

Is every state’s rate falling? Nope, 49 are falling. New York’s is still creeping upwards.

Oh, by the way. Today’s numbers? Wyoming 38, New York 54.