It’s so obvious why these 2 states are the newest coronavirus hotspots

[Andy Meek]

• The latest coronavirus update out of two Southern states has begun to worry health experts, to the point that it seems like these may be poised to be the next hotspots of the pandemic in the US.
• The states are Alabama and Mississippi, and each is grappling with worrisome signs such as very high coronavirus positive test rates, as well as increases in hospitalizations stemming from the virus.
• The opening of schools this fall is expected to surge cases even more. Both states also only enacted face mask mandates relatively recently.

If I said to you that health experts are especially worried about two Southern states becoming the next coronavirus hotspots in the US -- the states being Alabama and Mississippi -- the news might not particularly register with you, especially if you don't have a frame of reference, know little about either state, and you haven't heard a coronavirus update out of either state recently.

But once you learn that Alabama didn't enact a statewide face mask mandate until more than four months into the pandemic in the US (on July 15) and Mississippi didn't add a face mask mandate of its own until August 4, that might help contextualize how dire the situation is getting in both states and why experts are concerned. Experts like William Hanage, a Ph.D. and Harvard epidemiologist who told Vox that "Both Alabama and Mississippi have an awful lot of counties that are predicted to be vulnerable on the basis of their population demographics. Whether age, race, or socioeconomic status, or some combination of all three."

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It’s so obvious why these 2 states are the newest coronavirus hotspots originally appeared on BGR.com on Fri, 7 Aug 2020 at 09:12:26 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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