COVID-19 Damage Assessment: Which States Have Suffered Most?
As the COVID-19 pandemic swelled, quickly depleting US health care system resources, outcomes in some states were, and remain, far worse than in others.
The COVID-19 pandemic took a dramatic toll on the health of Americans, both directly and indirectly. The magnitude of that toll, however, varied significantly by state, according to findings published in the Commonwealth Fund 2022 Scorecard on State Health System Performance, an annual evaluation of how well the health care system overall is working in each state.
This year, Scorecard researchers pursued a new area of inquiry: How well has each state responded to and managed the COVID-19 pandemic?
The following slide show summarizes the Scorecard findings on 7 measures in key areas of performance related to pandemic response, including vaccination, hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) capacity/health system stress, and excess mortality through March 31, 2022.
The top 3 states scoring highest across measures in the COVID-19 domain were Hawaii, Maine, and Vermont.
The 3 states scoring lowest across measures in the COVID-19 domain were Kentuckyh, Oklahoma, and Alabama.
All states have made progress in COVID-19 vaccination, but there is still room for improvement.
State progress on booster shots has ranged from more than 50% to less than 25% of the population.
COVID-19 pushed hospitals to breaking points, operating near capacity and understaffed.
Reduced staff levels despite near bed capacity were driven by hospital employees isolating after contracting COVID.
Every state has experienced higher-than-expected mortality from all causes, ie COVID-19 as well as heart disease, cancer, drug overdose, other.
Substance abuse-related deaths spiked during COVID-19; reached record highs in nearly all states in 2020 after leveling off in 2018-19.
