Report: West Virginia COVID-19 recovery below average
(The Center Square) – West Virginia’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has been below average when compared to other states, according to a report from the financial website Wallethub.
The state ranked 33rd overall in its recovery among the other 49 states and the District of Columbia, scoring a 47.8 out of a possible 100. It only ranked within the top 20 in one of the three main categories, but scored below average in the other two.
West Virginia’s best category was its leisure and travel recovery, in which it scored 19. This category considered daily restaurant visits per capita, number of seated diners compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, retail and recreation mobility and parks mobility. This ranking accounted for 20% of the total score.
Economy and labor recovery was West Virginia’s second best category, in which it ranked 29 in the country. This accounts for changes in GDP levels, unemployment, weekly job posting and real estate listings when compared with pre-COVID-19 levels, among other things. This category accounted for 30% of the total score.
The worst category was the state’s COVID-19 health, in which the state ranked 35. This category, which accounted for half of the total score, considered vaccination rates, positive testing rates, hospitalization rates, hospital shortages and other criteria.
West Virginia scored particularly badly in a handful of metrics: last place for changes in weekly job postings, tied for worst in the number of hospitals with supply shortage, second to last for its share of the vaccine supply used and fifth to last for its share of the eligible population vaccinated.
“The state has the fifth lowest share of fully vaccinated population — 45.2%, and the second lowest share of vaccine supply used, almost 72%,” WalletHub Analyst Jill Gonzalez told The Center Square. “It also has some of the largest shares of hospitals with staff and supply shortages, 22% and 41% respectively. As far as economic and labor market recovery goes, there is still a lot needed. Right now, the GDP is 5.5% lower than pre-COVID levels, and the number of weekly job postings in the previous week was over 36% lower than it was before the pandemic — the biggest drop in the country.”
West Virginia ranked worse than all of its neighbors, with the exception of Tennessee.
The states with the best recoveries were South Dakota, Nebraska, Maine, Iowa and New Hampshire. The states with the worst recoveries were Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri and Mississippi.
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