GDP, hospital shortages & COVID-19: 10 fastest, slowest states for pandemic recovery

The three states recovering from the pandemic the fastest are South Dakota, Maine and Iowa, whereas the three states recovering the slowest are all in the South, according to a Sept. 8 WalletHub study.

For its study, WalletHub compared all 50 states and Washington, D.C., across 17 key metrics. The study compared each state's current gross domestic product against their pre-COVID-19 levels, unemployment rates, hospitalization levels and the percentage of the population that is vaccinated. 

Some insights into the rankings and scores: 

• Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts have the highest share of the population fully vaccinated. Alabama, West Virginia and Idaho have the lowest share of their population fully vaccinated.
• New Mexico, Wisconsin and Connecticut used the highest share of their vaccine supply, whereas Mississippi, Alabama and West Virginia used the lowest share of their vaccine supply.
• Vermont had the lowest hospitalization rate. Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kentucky, Alabama and Florida tied for the highest hospitalization rate, which is 18 times higher than Vermont.
• Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Nevada, South Dakota and Utah are tied for having the lowest share of hospitals with staff shortages. Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, Arizona, Rhode Island and New Mexico are tied for having the highest share of hospitals with staff shortages.
• Nebraska has the lowest unemployment rate compared to pre-COVID-19 unemployment levels. Hawaii has the highest unemployment rate compared to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Below are the top 10 states and bottom 10 states and their overall score. The complete ranking and scoring can be found here.