Thursday, June 18, 2020

Speaking of Density

Axios has an interactive map of states' recent experience with Covid-19. The state with the greatest growth in cases over the past week is my state of Wyoming.

Oddly, the article doesn't mention this at all, describing what has happened in other states with a smaller rate of growth. Or maybe not so oddly, if you consider the seven day average of cases in WY jumped from 8.3 to 17.0.

The tourist season is upon us. I suppose infected folks will bring us some cases, either as they head for our two National Parks or pass though on I-80 and I-25.

A couple of quick web searches reveal that Wyoming is the 10th largest state by area, and has both the lowest population density of the lower 48 states, at 6 people per square mile, and the least population of any state, at roughly 580,000. Six per mile translates to over 100 acres per person.

The biggest city in WY, the capital Cheyenne, has about 65,000 people. My former smallish rural home town in CA now has just under 100,000, my current home town in WY has just over 1500.

We do social distancing just by living here.