In only four states in the entire country the rate was above 15 percent. Region Seven, which includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, had the highest rate in the country as of the week ending on December 16, 18.5 percent. For weeks the four states have been identified as the worst-hit by the virus in the country, with more people testing positive than anywhere else.
Region Seven—an administrative area consisting of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska—is once again at the top of this chart as it has the highest proportion of COVID-19 diagnoses following testing. That region saw the most cases out of the entire U.S. in last week's figures, too.
Drifting smoke from the wildfires has lowered curtains of haze on broad swaths of Canada and the United States, pushing into southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and moving into parts of West Virginia.
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