With the number of COVID-19 cases continuing to surge in the United States and almost all the states experiencing their worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic, a new lockdown might be inevitable in certain areas of the country. Now that we’ve entered the holiday season, people are making travel plans to visit their families for Christmas.
While it’s understandable that everyone would want to spend the holidays with their loved ones, health officials are urging people to cancel all their travel plans, as the United States should prepare for the darkest days since the beginning of the pandemic.
Very few states implemented new lock-downs, even though almost every state decided to roll back their reopenings, as the situation is far from great in our country. But according to experts, with a few exceptions, all the states should be locking down right now.
In order to show how much the COVID-19 cases are spreading across the United States, the researchers at the Brown School of Public Health color-coded a map using real data. They used green to rate states with less than 1 case per 100,000 residents, which means they’re ‘on track for containment’ even though there aren’t any states in this category right now. Yellow stands for ‘community spread’ and represents the states with 1 to 9 cases per 100,000 residents. Orange means ‘accelerated spread’ with 10 to 24 cases per 100,00 people. Lastly, but not least, red is considered the ‘tipping point’ with more than 25 cases per 100,000 residents.
According to Brown’s researchers, “once a community reaches the red risk level, stay-at-home orders become necessary again.” No more than 47 states are now in the red category, which means a new lockdown would be recommended, while only 3 states are currently in the orange and yellow risk levels.
Read on to discover which 3 states are safe right now and shouldn’t be locking down!
Make sure to also read: A Second COVID-19 Lockdown? Here’s What You Can Do And What You Should Skip!
