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The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line

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The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line

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Tim Cook signed off on his final Apple earnings call with a warning about a ‘100-year flood’ in memory chip pricing

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Millennials say they’ll refuse to care for aging boomer parents—but they’ll be forced to as their inheritance shrinks to 40 cents on the dollar
HealthCoronavirus Cases Map

New coronavirus cases are increasing in all but 5 states

By
Erika Fry
Erika Fry
and
Nicolas Rapp
Nicolas Rapp
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By
Erika Fry
Erika Fry
and
Nicolas Rapp
Nicolas Rapp
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October 21, 2020, 5:17 PM ET
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It’s no time for pandemic fatigue.

With cold weather setting in and Americans preparing to head to the polls en masse in less than two weeks, the nation’s coronavirus map reflects a worrying picture. According to a Fortune analysis of New York Times data, new cases are increasing almost everywhere—in all but five states (Hawaii, Maine, Vermont, Delaware, and New Hampshire) and the District of Columbia.

Twenty-five states are reporting at least 200 more cases per day on average than they were two weeks ago. Two states, Illinois and Texas, are seeing more than 1,000 more new cases per day in that time. In another eight—mostly, in the Upper Midwest including Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin—the average number of new cases per day has increased by more than 500 per day. Those trajectories, along with rising and record hospitalization rates in many states, have led some experts to label this as the country’s “third surge.”  (The first surge started in late March and the second in July, when the nation recorded more than 77,000 new cases in one day; yesterday, the country reported roughly 60,600.)

While these rising rates haven’t been met with the sort of broad, shelter-in-place measures implemented earlier this year—and which are currently going back into effect in some places in Europe—restrictions on things like indoor dining and party bus use are being tried in some areas.

Hawaii is the only state where the average number of new cases per day is decreasing.

While the nation’s rising case numbers reflect, in part, more testing, the average seven-day positivity rate in many states—37 of them—is well above the 5% figure that the World Health Organization in May described as “too high” for governments to consider reopening. Twelve states, led by Indiana, with an average positivity rate of 41%, have rates above 15%.

States in the Northeast make up most of those with positivity rates below 2%.

State-by-state breakdown of daily new cases

Numbers based on a seven-day averages.

StateOct. 14 new casesOct. 20 new casesChange
Alabama9891,04859
Alaska15119848
Arizona536884348
Arkansas759896137
California3,1983,354157
Colorado5821,079496
Connecticut273394121
Delaware134133-1
District of Columbia50544
Florida2,2223,091869
Georgia1,2111,441230
Guam548935
Hawaii9381-13
Idaho519738219
Illinois2,0453,8561811
Indiana1,1361,798661
Iowa8111,096285
Kansas589784195
Kentucky8311,109278
Louisiana517634117
Maine3330-3
Maryland55562772
Massachusetts62572297
Michigan1,0001,872872
Minnesota1,0421,565523
Mississippi577769192
Missouri1,4792,056577
Montana401646244
Nebraska530838308
Nevada478673195
New Hampshire71787
New Jersey6821,016333
New Mexico256598342
New York1,3251,39772
North Carolina1,7222,045323
North Dakota423774351
Northern Mariana Islands121
Ohio1,1992,002803
Oklahoma1,0181,151133
Oregon29333744
Pennsylvania1,0051,474468
Puerto Rico467586119
Rhode Island14924193
South Carolina762944182
South Dakota411731320
Tennessee1,4852,053568
Texas4,3385,3651028
Utah1,0451,260215
Vermont10100
Virgin Islands011
Virginia809993183
Washington526648122
West Virginia178281103
Wisconsin2,4493,394946
Wyoming13622388

About the Authors
Erika Fry
By Erika Fry
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Nicolas Rapp
By Nicolas RappInformation Graphics Director
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Nicolas Rapp is the former information graphics director at Fortune.

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