5 Worst States for Q1 COVID-19 Death Trends
The first quarter was a catastrophically bad quarter for U.S. COVID-19 deaths and deaths from all causes.
The first reasonably complete first-quarter death totals from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirm the story earlier, incomplete CDC figures were telling: The total number of U.S. deaths from all causes was 24% higher than the total for the first quarter of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of confirmed deaths from COVID-19 might have decreased 17% from the 2021 total, to 143,281, according to the CDC’s epidemic threshold tracking data.
But that number could increase as mortality reports continue to gel, and the number of reported deaths from all causes fell just 2.5%, to 165,328.
For the five states with the worst increases in the number of deaths involving confirmed cases of COVID-19 between the first quarter of 2021 and the latest quarter, based on CDC death count data, see the gallery above.
For CDC death count data for all 50 states, see the table below.
What It Means
Ordinary people might be bored with COVID-19 and ready to worry about monkeypox.
But monkeypox has not killed anyone in the United States, so far, and COVID-19 has had an enormous impact on the U.S. mortality rate for two straight years.
In a normal year, before 2020, a health development that increased the number of U.S. deaths from all causes by 1% would have been considered shocking.
Life and pension actuaries say that they are still thinking that the impact of COVID-19 might be short-lived, but agents and advisors with an interest life insurance planning, estate planning, retirement planning, pension administration or annuities need to make sure that any work they do reflects awareness of the possibility that COVID-19 could continue to have a significant effect on U.S. mortality and life expectancy figures.
The Numbers
The earliest U.S. mortality figures come from CDC pneumonia, influenza and COVID-19 tracking reports. The CDC uses the data to determine whether the number of deaths from an outbreak has met the epidemic threshold for the week.
The CDC also collects state-by-state death statistics, which tend to take longer to firm up. The slideshow above and the table below are based on the United States COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by State Over Time reporting system.
The earliest first state-by-state figures for the first quarter show that the number of deaths involving confirmed cases of COVID-19 increased in at least 23 states between the year-earlier quarter and the latest quarter.
Preliminary Q1 COVID-19 Death Totals
Confirmed Deaths from COVID-19, by State
2020
2021
2022
Change (2022 vs. 2021)
Alabama
49
3,786
2,802
-26.0%
Alaska
6
59
186
215.3%
Arizona
24
8,103
5,277
-34.9%
Arkansas
8
1,950
2,082
6.8%
California
150
32,562
12,268
-62.3%
Colorado
69
1,293
1,703
31.7%
Connecticut
69
1,891
1,616
-14.5%
Delaware
11
582
526
-9.6%
District of Columbia
9
278
122
-56.1%
Florida
180
10,831
10,548
-2.6%
Georgia
130
8,121
5,544
-31.7%
Hawaii
1
174
288
65.5%
Idaho
9
526
711
35.2%
Illinois
99
5,601
6,650
18.7%
Indiana
50
4,776
4,367
-8.6%
Iowa
7
1,852
1,587
-14.3%
Kansas
9
2,172
1,293
-40.5%
Kentucky
22
2,534
2,740
8.1%
Louisiana
239
2,653
2,141
-19.3%
Maine
5
396
671
69.4%
Maryland
38
2,581
2,472
-4.2%
Massachusetts
155
4,630
3,611
-22.0%
Michigan
558
3,489
4,963
42.2%
Minnesota
17
1,406
1,982
41.0%
Mississippi
153
1,555
1,876
20.6%
Missouri
32
1,948
3,919
101.2%
Montana
5
476
341
-28.4%
Nebraska
3
529
821
55.2%
Nevada
26
2,124
1,687
-20.6%
New Hampshire
3
480
491
2.3%
New Jersey
267
5,519
4,195
-24.0%
New Mexico
5
1,440
1,419
-1.5%
New York
1,955
12,434
8,322
-33.1%
North Carolina
13
4,851
4,712
-2.9%
North Dakota
3
157
233
48.4%
Ohio
55
5,886
8,595
46.0%
Oklahoma
31
2,586
2,455
-5.1%
Oregon
18
906
1,489
64.3%
Pennsylvania
63
9,115
7,570
-17.0%
Rhode Island
8
833
448
-46.2%
South Carolina
11
3,814
2,927
-23.3%
South Dakota
1
447
397
-11.2%
Tennessee
13
5,094
4,369
-14.2%
Texas
101
17,442
11,497
-34.1%
Utah
5
853
927
8.7%
Vermont
16
78
134
71.8%
Virginia
34
5,188
4,113
-20.7%
Washington
195
1,786
2,641
47.9%
West Virginia
1
1,173
1,495
27.5%
Wisconsin
16
2,073
3,129
50.9%
Wyoming
–
262
265
1.1%
MEDIAN
-2.9%
(Photo: Black Salmon/Shutterstock)
