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126.8 Percent? COVID Test Positivity Rates, State by State

January 05, 2022

This COVID is not like that COVID. The Omicron variant, as it spreads from continent to continent, is proving more transmissible than the Delta variant and others before it but less deadly and less likely to cause severe illness among those fully vaccinated with an additional booster dose.

“Today, when we look at our patient population,” said Jeffrey Flaks, Hartford HealthCare’s president and chief executive officer, at a Jan. 5 media briefing, “38 percent of our (413) inpatients are vaccinated, but only seven patients who are within our hospitals have received their booster. And within our ICUs (intensive care units) only 3 percent of the patients we are caring for have been vaccinated.”

Test positivity rates throughout much of the United States have reached almost unbelievable levels, with Connecticut’s 27.1 percent only the nation’s 19th highest, according to a Jan. 5 update by Johns Hopkins University. (Connecticut officials reported a 22.6 percent infection rate.) The District of Columbia, at 126.8 percent, has the highest rate, Rhode Island (5.6 percent) the lowest.

The previous day, Pennsylvania’s had the highest rate at 376.9 percent, far above the sub-5 percent recommended by the World Health Organization. Johns Hopkins’ Coronavirus Resource Center calculates the rolling seven-day average for both positive tests and total tests, then for each day calculates the percentage over the rolling averages.

Here are the state-by state (and District of Columbia) test positivity rates and tests per 100,000 people:

  1. District of Columbia: 126.8%
    Tests per 100k: 241.6
  2. New Jersey: 104.2%
    Tests per 100k: 271.5
  3. Pennsylvania: 89.1%
    Tests per 100k: 153.1
  4. Kansas: 78.4%
    Tests per 100k: 137.3
  5. Colorado: 76.3%
    Tests per 100k: 185.6
  6. Wisconsin: 58.4%
    Tests per 100k: 169.5
  7. Maryland: 51%
    Tests per 100k: 1036.7
  8. Virginia: 45.1%
    Tests per 100k: 339.3
  9. Alabama: 42.8%
    Tests per 100k: 230.1
  10. Nevada: 42.8%
    Tests per 100k: 229
  11. Georgia: 36.7%
    Tests per 100k: 471.2
  12. Idaho: 36.4%
    Tests per 100k: 84.6
  13. Tennessee: 35.7%
    Tests per 100k: 357
  14. Texas: 31.8%
    Tests per 100k: 419.8
  15. Ohio: 30.7%
    Tests per 100k: 451
  16. Florida: 30%
    Tests per 100k: 705.4
  17. Michigan: 29.9%
    Tests per 100k: 520
  18. Missouri: 27.5%
    Tests per 100k: 359.3
  19. Connecticut: 27.1%
    Tests per 100k: 741.5
  20. Arkansas: 26.7%
    Tests per 100k: 353
  21. South Dakota: 25.2%
    Tests per 100k: 298.1
  22. Mississippi: 25.1%
    Tests per 100k: 322.3
  23. Utah: 23.1%
    Tests per 100k: 400.5
  24. Kentucky: 22.3%
    Tests per 100k: 423.6
  25. North Carolina: 22.1%
    Tests per 100k: 556.6
  26. New York: 21.8%
    Tests per 100k: 1575.8
  27. Iowa: 21.4%
    Tests per 100k: 318
  28. Louisiana: 21.4%
    Tests per 100k: 646.5
  29. New Hampshire: 21.1%
    Tests per 100k: 496.4
  30. Oklahoma: 20.5%
    Tests per 100k: 185.9
  31. South Carolina: 20.4%
    Tests per 100k: 808.7
  32. Massachusetts: 20.3%
    Tests per 100k: 1145.8
  33. Indiana: 19.8%
    Tests per 100k: 648.7
  34. Oregon: 17.2%
    Tests per 100k: 530.2
  35. Hawaii: 16.9%
    Tests per 100k: 918.7
  36. California: 15.9%
    Tests per 100k: 804.7
  37. Arizona: 15.2%
    Tests per 100k: 535.7
  38. Delaware: 14.9%
    Tests per 100k: 3135.8
  39. New Mexico: 14.9%
    Tests per 100k: 578.6
  40. Nebraska: 14.6%
    Tests per 100k: 618.5
  41. West Virginia: 13.8%
    Tests per 100k: 754.9
  42. Maine: 13.7%
    Tests per 100k: 500.6
  43. Illinois: 13.2%
    Tests per 100k: 1401.7
  44. Minnesota: 13.2%
    Tests per 100k: 485.5
  45. North Dakota: 13%
    Tests per 100k: 397.2
  46. Alaska: 11.7%
    Tests per 100k: 732.7
  47. Vermont: 9.9%
    Tests per 100k: 1322.9
  48. Wyoming: 8%
    Tests per 100k: 359.3
  49. Montana: 6.5%
    Tests per 100k: 431.5
  50. Rhode Island: 5.6%
    Tests per 100k: 1788.4
  51. Washington: N/A
    Tests per 100k: 0