New study finds Texas among least aggressive in virus efforts

Image
Body

Texas, like all other states, is taking action against the spread of the coronavirus.

The aggression of the Lone Star State towards taking care of this pandemic, though, lack behind other states, according to new data.

A study made by WalletHub, released on March 17, compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 35 key metrics about how prepared each state is in dealing with the virus.

The data set ranges from tested cases of COVID-19 per capita and state legislation on the pandemic, to the uninsured population and share of the workforce in affected industries.

Texas scored poor marks in several categories in comparison to other states, including having a bottom-five rank in total Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Funding per capita.

The state had the least amount of COVID-19 cases per capita as of March 16, but this number may be misleading.

“This does not necessarily mean there are less infected residents...but that there are simply less being tested,” WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez stated.

Two big risk factors to Texas are the large share of homes lacking access to basic hygienic facilities, and the high food insecurity rate, according to Gonzalez.

In data updated March 23, the only states ranked lower than Texas in PHEP funding per capita are Illinois, California, and New York. Gonzalez says this is due to the large population of the state, as well as the largest share of uninsured residents in the country, a figure of 17.4 percent.

The three main categories that WalletHub used as a base for their study were ‘Prevention and Containment,’ ‘Risk Factors and Infrastructure,’ and ‘Economic Impact.”

Texas currently ranks 37th, 30th, and 26th in the respective categories.

The economic impact score is based on how much the virus will impact the Texas economy and workforce, with Gonzalez noting that the oil and event industries have already taken a hit.

Texas did receive marks from Gonzalez for its valuable technology industry, which will be a staple of the state economy in uncertain times.