ATLANTA — A viral tweet from Dr. Ashish Jha made many people wonder about the differences in severe COVID cases in states with high vaccination rates versus those in states, like Georgia, with low vaccination rates.
The tweet claimed that the five most vaccinated states had 580 people in the hospital and only 12 deaths. On the opposite end, the five states with the least vaccinated people had more hospitalizations and more deaths.
11Alive is analyzing the figures to see where Georgia falls in the mix.
Here's a breakdown of the number of people in the hospital and the number of people who died in the 10 worst and best states for vaccinations. The data is from Tuesday.
Here's what we found:
10 worst states
The 10 worst states, which includes Georgia, are dealing with more than 14,000 people hospitalized and 254 deaths. An average of 38% of those living there are fully vaccinated.
10 best states
In the 10 best states, only 1,400 people are in the hospital and 32 deaths. Around 62% of that population is vaccinated.
Both groups have about the same number people, which means COVID patients in states with low vaccination rates have 10-times higher hospitalization rates and are 7 times more likely to die.
As of Wednesday, 53% of eligible Georgians still have yet to get a vaccine, 6% are in between their first and second doses, and 41% are fully vaccinated, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health's latest data.
