Report: Virginia ranks middle-of-the-pack in COVID-19 safety despite heavier restrictions
(The Center Square) – Virginia has some of the harshest COVID-19 restrictions in the country, but according to a new report, the state only performs around the middle of the pack when it comes to COVID-19 safety.
The commonwealth scored 64.24 out of a possible 100 in its COVID-19 safety rating, which places the state just inside the top half at 21 when compared to all other states and the District of Columbia.
WalletHub, which is the financial website that conducted the report, considered vaccination rates, positive testing rates, hospitalization rates, death rates and transmission rates. Death rates and vaccination rates were weighted more heavily in the ranking.
“Virginia is currently among the top half safest states during COVID,” WalletHub Analyst Jill Gonzalez told The Center Square. “It has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, over 50%, as well as one of the lowest estimated transmission rates nationwide.”
In a previous WalletHub study, the commonwealth ranked as having the fourth most COVID-19 restrictions in a study that compared policies as of April 6. This considered face mask mandates, restrictions on businesses and the state’s failure to pass legislation to protect businesses against certain COVID-19-related lawsuits if they had been following state guidelines.
Democratic states ranked slightly safer than Republican states, but not by a lot. Democratic states ranked on average 24.46 and Republican states ranked on average 27.6.
The safest states were New Hampshire, Hawaii, Alaska, Kansas and Vermont. The least safe states were Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, West Virginia and New York.
Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square
