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As the coronavirus pandemic continues, states in the Midwest are seeing a troubling surge in positive COVID-19 tests. While states like New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine have dipped to under one percent, Midwestern states are seeing their positive rates surge over 25 percent.
Some states, like North Dakota, have jumped from 6 percent to 30 percent over the past week.
According to the World Health Organization, any positivity rate over 5 percent is considered a big concern because the number of undiagnosed cases in the communities could be much greater than imagined.
From the New York Post:
North Dakota’s positive test rate has averaged 30 percent over the past seven days compared with 6 percent the prior week. The positivity rate has risen to 26 percent in South Dakota, up from 17 percent the previous week, according to the analysis using testing data from The COVID Tracking Project.
The coronavirus mainly comes from animals and a majority of those who were infected early either worked at or frequently visited the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, according to The Guardian. The virus is similar to Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers).
The Wuhan coronavirus is transmitted from person to person through “droplet transmission.” That means an infected person can pass the virus by sneezing or coughing on another person as well as by direct contact.
While a majority of the cases have been detected in the United States and China — with more than 7.14 million confirmed cases and 205,000 deaths in the United States — it has now reached many countries around the world. It has also been confirmed in Italy, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and many other eastern countries.
