Wyoming ‘Safer’ Than Colorado During COVID-19, Study Finds
The NoCo Virus Tracker articles are made possible by our partner, the Keep NoCo Open campaign, that reminds citizens to wear a mask, wash your hands, physically distance and support local as Northern Colorado recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wyoming ranked above Colorado in WalletHub's most recent study listing the safest states during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout the pandemic, WalletHub has been ranking each state's safety, taking into consideration factors like hospitalizations, positivity rate, deaths, vaccinations and even red states vs. blue states. And while Colorado has topped the list in past months, this time, we didn't clear the top ten. Wyoming, on the other hand, did. WalletHub placed Wyoming fifth on its list, and Colorado at number 12.
Colorado's breakdown isn't too bad, however. Colorado falls in the 'low COVID death rate and high vaccination rate' portion of WalletHub's chart, with the eighth lowest amount of COVID deaths in the country, and the 11th highest vaccination rate.
Wyoming has the 16th lowest COVID death rate, and 10th highest vaccination rate, so its higher score could likely be because of its smaller population. You can see WalletHub's full report here.
Wyoming relaxed its COVID-19 restrictions in January after a decline in hospitalizations, with KNBN reporting that 'bars, restaurants, and the like are no longer required to close between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.'
Most of Colorado is in Level Yellow COVID-19 restrictions, which means in-person schooling, 50 percent indoor capacity for restaurants and retail and 11 p.m. last call. As of February 16, one million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been given to Coloradans.
LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions
While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.