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The positivity rate is "the percentage of positive cases among those who are tested". See https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/07/13/what-exactly-does-the-covid-19-positivity-rate-tell-us/ for more information. The following chart is from https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/testing-positivity where its is stated "On May 12, 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) advised governments that before reopening, rates of positivity in testing (ie, out of all tests conducted, how many came back positive for COVID-19) of should remain at 5% or lower for at least 14 days."
The top 9 states are shoiwn shown below ranked by Positivity (from https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/testing-positivity 9/8/2020) together with some statistics.
| State | ID | Population | Positivity | Covid-19 confirmed so far | deaths so far | %deaths/ confirmed | confirmed/ MPop so far | deaths/ MPop so far | smoothed (daily Confirmed/ MPop) | smoothed (daily Deaths/ MPop) | Political leaning | Income per capita ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Dakota | ND | 756927 | 19.58% | 13872 | 156 | 1.12 | 18326.7343 | 206.0965 | 353.3083 | 2.076064 | Swing | 33071 |
| South Dakota | SD | 858469 | 18.73% | 15403 | 173 | 1.12 | 17942.4068 | 201.5215 | 275.2408 | 0.99845539 | Republican | 26959 |
| Alabama | AL | 4858979 | 18.42% | 133606 | 2277 | 1.7 | 27496.7231 | 468.617 | 176.1099 | 2.263850 | Republican | 23606 |
| Kansas | KS | 2911641 | 18.36% | 56854 | 579 | 1.02 | 19526.4457 | 198.8569 | 224.5175 | 2.5513348 | Republican | 27870 |
| Mississippi | MS | 2992333 | 17.28% | 89069 | 2619 | 2.94 | 29765.738 | 875.2368 | 186.0469 | 4.965070 | Republican | 21036 |
| Iowa | IA | 3123899 | 15.31% | 71142 | 1185 | 1.67 | 22773.4635 | 379.3336 | 236.6091 | 2.7438239 | Swing | 28361 |
| Idaho | ID | 1654930 | 14.78% | 33978 | 389 | 1.14 | 20531.382 | 235.0553 | 140.2735 | 1.8990876 | Republican | 23938 |
| Missouri | MO | 6083672 | 14.5% | 96181 | 1690 | 1.76 | 15809.6952 | 277.7928 | 221.7411 | 3.0057034 | Republican | 26126 |
| Florida | FL | 20271272 | 13.32% | 650092 | 11915 | 1.83 | 32069.6205 | 587.7776 | 134.2646 | 3.8125735 | Swing | 26582 |
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| Covid-19 smoothed confirmed cases per day per million population | Covid-19 smoothed deaths per day per million population |
|---|---|
 |  |
Observations:
- As would be expected since Florida has over three times the population of any of the other states, its confirmed cases and. deaths lead the way by a wide margin.
- When one normalizes cases by the population of each state, then the confirmed cases and deaths are more evenly spread.
US States time series plots of Covid-19 cases, May-June
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