South Dakota Showing One of the Biggest COVID-19 Improvements

One thing there has been no shortage of during this Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is information.

That's been both the good news and the bad news.

On the upside, the facts and figures that have been released during this pandemic have given us the ability to accurately track this potentially deadly virus and help us to take measures to try and mitigate the spread.

On the downside, all of that information is being spun in a lot of different ways by a lot of different entities.

Case in point, just a couple of days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) included South Dakota on its shortlist of states with troubling hotspots of COVID-19 spread, comes a report from WalletHub that says the Mount Rushmore State is among the states showing the biggest Coronavirus improvements.

Source: WalletHub

The site looked at 11 key metrics and declared South Dakota as having the seventh best health improvement rate in America.

Two key numbers helped bolster the state's ranking.

South Dakota was fifth in the nation in what's known as 'Other Positive COVID-19 Testing Rate Metrics. Those factor in the change in positive test results over one-week, two-week, and four-week increments.

The state also was in the top ten (#10) in the lowest COVID-19 related deaths.

Nationwide, the states that fared best in the research all tended to have lower populations.

STATES WITH BIGGEST COVID-19 IMPROVEMENTS (WalletHub)

Hawaii
Alaska
Vermont
Montana
Idaho
Wyoming
South Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
West Virginia

While South Dakota lands in the top ten for biggest improvements, two neighboring states didn't fare so well. North Dakota and Iowa are third and fourth on the list of states showing the smallest Coronavirus improvements. North Dakota was dead last in the 'Other Death Rate Metrics' category, while Iowa was 34th in death rate and 38th in the positive testing rate.

STATES WITH THE LEAST COVID-19 IMPROVEMENTS (WalletHub)