Tale of two pandemics in the US

Like many things in the US the situation varies depending on what state you are in.

The fact is that a small handful have a very serious problem - and most do not.

The states with highest death rate per person of population are:

Approximate deaths per 100,000 as of yesterday:

NY - 15
LA - 8
NJ - 7
MI - 5

All the rest are below 4 but most are actually below 1 death per 100,000 so far.

If our remove just those states from the numbers the death rate per person in the US goes from around 2 to less than 1.

34 states - over 2/3rds - had less than one (1) death per 100,000 of residents.

The vast majority of the country is not in a pandemic.