COVID-19 Outcomes: December 27th

California and New York have taken a heavy-handed approach to the coronavirus pandemic, whereas Florida has a laissez-faire outlook. Nonetheless, Florida is managing better case, death, and hospitalization statistics than California and New York.

Image: Wall Street Journal

California objectively performs well only when it comes to testing. On December 27th, California performed the most tests in relative and absolute terms—380,154 (i.e., 0.96% of the state population)—compared to 130,299 in New York (0.67%) and 62,641 in Florida (0.29%).

Perhaps because of the testing trends, Florida had the fewest cases in relative and absolute terms: 7,157 (i.e., 0.033% of the state population). This statistic compares favorably with 50,141 cases in California (0.127%) and 7,623 in New York (0.039%).

Florida also had the fewest hospitalized COVID patients in relative and absolute terms—5,910 (i.e., 0.028% of the state population)—compared to 20,059 in California (0.051%) and 7,183 in New York (0.037%).

Finally, Florida had the most favorable death statistics in relative and absolute terms. 77 people died with COVID in Florida on 12/27, which constitutes 0.000358% of the state population. California had 237 deaths (i.e., 0.000599% of the state population) and New York had 115 (0.000591%).

In short, while Florida could benefit from increased testing, their hospitalization and mortality statistics are enviable. Moreover, these results were accomplished without extensive state-imposed mandates—the State of Florida does not currently have a mask mandate or restrictions on restaurants, for example.

The statistics on tests, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths were accessed from the COVID Tracking Project around 10pm on December 28, 2020. The population-based calculations were performed based on 2019 data from the U.S. Census.

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