Governor Brian Kemp says the state is using its supply of COVID vaccines efficiently and getting shots in arms and while hospitalizations in Georgia and across the nation have been declining recently, the numbers are still not looking good for the Peach State. A recent study by the financial website WalletHub says Georgia is the second least safe state in the country.
"Unfortunately Georgia keeps dropping and now ranks 50th out of all 51 places, including D.C., that were looked at. Just in terms of hospitalization, Georgia has the third highest hospitalization rate, more than ten times higher than say Hawaii, and Wyoming, and Oregon. It also has a high death rate, a high positive testing rate, and not surprisingly, it has the second-lowest vaccination rate in the country."
Kemp did say that the state cannot control how private companies disperse their shares of the vaccine, which can impact the overall rates.
Analysts regularly determine the rankings to compile the lists.
"This is something that we update every couple of weeks, based on five different metrics. So that's COVID-19 transmission rates, positive testing, hospitalization, death, as well as the share of the eligible population getting vaccinated."
Gonzalez says the safer the state, the better boost for the economy.
Only Virginia came in below Georgia. For more information, visit https://wallethub.com/edu/safest-states-during-covid/86567 .
