There have been 4.6 million new COVID-19 cases since June 20, when the number of cases hit the lowest level since March 2020. Every state has had a spike in cases, though Southeastern states have been harder hit than others. These states have similar though not identical trends in other COVID-19 metrics, including deaths and vaccinations.
One in 25 Louisiana residents tested positive since the Delta surge began.
Louisiana has had the most cases relative to its population, with 187,000 new cases or 4% of the state's population testing positive since June 20. The seven-day average of new cases peaked on August 13 at 5,839. It fell 20% to 4,684 new cases a day as of August 25.
Louisiana ranks fourth in summer 2021 COVID-19 deaths with 1,538 as of August 25.
Twelve of Louisiana’s 64 parishes have had more than 5% of its population test positive since June 20. All but one have less than 38% of the population vaccinated. Lafourche Parish in Southeast Louisiana, with the highest share of its population testing positive this summer at 6%, has 34% of its population fully vaccinated. St. Tammany Parish, with a 45% vaccination rate, has had 5% of its population test positive.
Forty-eight percent of Louisiana residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with 40% of the population fully vaccinated.
Florida has 7% of the US population. In the current surge, it has 18% of the new cases.
Since June 20, there have been 816,000 new cases in Florida, representative of 4% of the state’s population. As of August 24, the state’s total case count was 3.1 million, with a seven-day average of more than 18,000 new cases per day.
The state has had 5,176 COVID-19 deaths during the current surge, 17% of the 31,335 deaths nationwide. Earlier in August, the daily death count was higher than at any point in the pandemic. As of August 25, the seven-day average COVID-19 death count in Florida was 227.
Fifteen of the state’s 67 counties had a case count representing more than 4% of their population since June. Thirteen of those counties are in the Panhandle or Northeastern parts of the state.
The northern part of the state also is the least vaccinated region. Fifty-one percent of the state’s population was fully vaccinated as of August 24, but most counties with the highest case rates also rank among the least vaccinated. For example, in Columbia County, there were nearly 4,000 new cases since June, representing more than 5% of the county's population and the highest share in the state. Thirty-one percent of the population was fully vaccinated.
Mississippi has the highest seven-day average of new cases in the country.
As of August 24, Mississippi had an average of 3,400 new cases a day, or 114 per 100,000 residents. Since June 20, the state has registered 97,000 new cases bringing its cumulative total to 417,000 cases. During this same period, 809 Mississippi residents have died of COVID-19.
Thirty-seven percent of Mississippi's population is fully vaccinated, second-lowest to Alabama. At the county level, full vaccination rates range from 24% in central Mississippi’s Smith County — where 3% of the population tested positive this summer — to 51% in Jefferson County, a rural western Mississippi county where 2% of the people tested positive.
Three percent of Arkansas residents tested positive this summer.
Arkansas registered 94,000 new cases since June 20. However, as of August 25, its seven-day average case count stood at 2,200, 22% lower than its recent high of 2,800 new cases on August 9. There have also been 900 COVID-19 deaths during the period.
Forty percent of Arkansas’ population is fully vaccinated. About 70% of the state’s 65 and older population is fully vaccinated, the lowest rate among all states.
At the county level, Pulaski County — the most populous — has the highest full vaccination rate at 45%. Three percent of its population have tested positive this summer. Miller County on the Texas border has a full vaccination rate of 10% but also had one of the lowest summer case rates in the state, with 2% of its population testing positive. Baxter County on the northern border had the highest case rate this summer, with 5% of its population testing positive and 38% fully vaccinated.
Learn more about cases, deaths, and vaccination rates at the state and county levels.
