Kansas, Missouri among states below critical virus threshold

With vaccines now in distribution at select sites across the nation, public-health officials are hopeful for more progress after a recent decline in severity of the viral spread.

The web site rt.live, which tracks rates of transmission in each state, reports today that fully half the 50 states have fallen below a critical threshold that signifies the virus is starting to phase out.

Missouri and Kansas are among the 25 states with Rt values of less than 1.0; anything under that level suggests the spread is in decline. Kansas had a most recent reading of 0.95, while Missouri was 0.97.

A month ago, 18 states had fallen below that threshold; two months ago, Mississippi was alone in that range as the virus was heading into its autumn peak.

As of today, Oklahoma is leading the growth-positive states, with a reading of 1.20, with the four most populous states, California, Texas, Florida and New York, all in the danger zone for spread.

The link to data from rt.live can be found here.