Lost in the chaos of variants, vaccination rates and decisions from state to state, city to city and company to company is the fact that the basic rules to slow the spread of COVID-19 remain the same. However, several states either have ignored the pleas or took them to heart only to reject them again as cases have started to fall.
The rate at which COVID-19 has spread across America has slowed recently. Fatal cases per day have dropped from as many as 4,000 a day two months ago to under 2,000 most days. Daily confirmed case growth has decreased from as many as 225,000 a day to less than 100,000. (Here are the worst COVID-19 hot spots in every state).
Nevertheless, 523,852 people have died from the disease in the United States, which is about 20% of the world’s total. Confirmed cases number 29,066,212, about 25% of the world’s number. Many epidemiologists believe that the confirmed case figure is low by half because of inadequate testing.
24/7 Wall St. took data from USA Today and AARP to determine the 16 states without mask mandates. Among those on our list is Texas, which will drop the mandate on March 10. We then added the number of fatal cases and confirmed cases from the Microsoft Bing COVID-19 Tracker, for which 24/7 Wall St. provides data. Finally, we took vaccination rates and doses delivered to each state from the “COVID-19 Vaccinations in the United States” tables provided at its website and an analysis of these tables from The New York Times.
These Are The 16 States That Do Not Require You To Wear A Mask
The primary weapons against the spread of the disease remain social distancing and mask wearing. In the past two months, vaccination has joined the list. The Trump administration forecast a relatively rapid pace of vaccination for the early months of 2021. Most of those goals were missed. Recently, the Biden administration said it would have enough vaccine doses for all American adults by the end of May.
One reason for the increase in the pace is that Merck has agreed to make the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was recently approved to be used along with those from Pfizer and Moderna.
The need for a rapid pace of vaccination has heightened recently. Variants of the COVID-19 virus have begun to spread rapidly in America, particularly one first detected in the United Kingdom. The CDC tracks three of these variants, identified as B.1.1.7, B.1.351 and P.1, for the public. These variants have been detected in at least 46 states so far. Additionally, new variants have emerged in California and New York.
As of Wednesday, 16% of the adult population has been given at least one vaccine dose and just over 8% has received two shots. That is, 107,028,890 doses have been distributed and 80,540,474 shots have been administered.
The vaccination rate and slowing cases and deaths, more than anything else, are used as reasons to “reopen.” This means people without masks, indoor gatherings, people moving back to offices and, with that, an almost certain new rise in cases.
Source: Hugh Hastings / Getty Images News via Getty Images
Alaska
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 59,030 or 8,069 per 100,000 people — 15th lowest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 299 or 41 per 100,000 people — 3rd lowest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 399,225 or 54,573 per 100,000 people — the highest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 23.3% — the highest
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Arizona
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 819,954 or 11,265 per 100,000 people — 6th highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 16,089 or 221 per 100,000 people — 5th highest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 2,392,275 or 32,867 per 100,000 people — 24th highest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 17.5% — 17th highest
Source: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images News via Getty Images
Florida
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 1,924,114 or 8,959 per 100,000 people — 23rd lowest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 31,828 or 148 per 100,000 people — 25th highest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 7,112,075 or 33,114 per 100,000 people — 22nd highest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 15.1% — 12th lowest
Source: Jessica McGowan / Getty Images News via Getty Images
Georgia
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 1,014,542 or 9,555 per 100,000 people — 19th highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 17,625 or 166 per 100,000 people — 19th highest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 3,155,155 or 29,717 per 100,000 people — 4th lowest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 12.1% — the lowest
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Idaho
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 172,288 or 9,641 per 100,000 people — 17th highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 1,876 or 105 per 100,000 people — 10th lowest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 525,115 or 29,384 per 100,000 people — 3rd lowest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 15.1% — 12th lowest
Iowa
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 337,594 or 10,700 per 100,000 people — 9th highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 5,501 or 174 per 100,000 people — 15th highest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 983,345 or 31,167 per 100,000 people — 12th lowest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 17.7% — 14th highest
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Mississippi
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 295,675 or 9,935 per 100,000 people — 14th highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 6,743 or 227 per 100,000 people — 4th highest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 942,435 or 31,666 per 100,000 people — 18th lowest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 14.7% — 8th lowest
24/7 Wall St.
Source: Michael Thomas / Getty Images News via Getty Images
Missouri
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 479,069 or 7,806 per 100,000 people — 13th lowest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 8,148 or 133 per 100,000 people — 22nd lowest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 1,848,525 or 30,119 per 100,000 people — 8th lowest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 14.6% — 6th lowest
Source: Janie Osborne / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
Montana
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 100,351 or 9,389 per 100,000 people — 22nd highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 1,373 or 128 per 100,000 people — 19th lowest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 370,485 or 34,664 per 100,000 people — 11th highest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 18.2% — 9th highest
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Nebraska
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 201,648 or 10,424 per 100,000 people — 10th highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 2,091 or 108 per 100,000 people — 12th lowest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 654,800 or 33,850 per 100,000 people — 14th highest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 16.7% — 23rd highest
Source: Joe Raedle / Getty Images News via Getty Images
North Dakota
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 100,067 or 13,131 per 100,000 people — the highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 1,448 or 190 per 100,000 people — 11th highest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 269,610 or 35,379 per 100,000 people — 10th highest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 19.8% — 5th highest
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Oklahoma
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 425,746 or 10,759 per 100,000 people — 7th highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 4,534 or 115 per 100,000 people — 16th lowest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 1,551,080 or 39,199 per 100,000 people — 4th highest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 18.2% — 9th highest
Source: Tempura / E+ via Getty Images
South Carolina
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 519,996 or 10,100 per 100,000 people — 13th highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 8,620 or 167 per 100,000 people — 18th highest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 1,489,675 or 28,933 per 100,000 people — 2nd lowest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 14.9% — 9th lowest
Source: Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images News via Getty Images
South Dakota
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 100,146 or 11,320 per 100,000 people — 5th highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 1,893 or 214 per 100,000 people — 7th highest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 357,250 or 40,383 per 100,000 people — 2nd highest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 21.5% — 3rd highest
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Source: Patrick Smith / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
Tennessee
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 777,935 or 11,391 per 100,000 people — 4th highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 11,459 or 168 per 100,000 people — 17th highest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 2,043,160 or 29,918 per 100,000 people — 5th lowest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 13.8% — 5th lowest
Source: Go Nakamura / Getty Images News via Getty Images
Texas
> Confirmed cases as of Mar 3: 2,663,414 or 9,185 per 100,000 people — 24th highest
> Fatal cases as of Mar 3: 43,563 or 150 per 100,000 people — 24th highest
> Doses delivered to state as of Mar 3: 8,709,955 or 30,039 per 100,000 people — 7th lowest
> Population vaccinated as of Mar 3: 13.3% — 3rd lowest
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