According to Wallethub, as of May 2020, the coronavirus
pandemic has left behind 100,000 deaths and around 1.7 million people have been
infected in the U.S. alone. COVID-19 remains at the top when it comes to safety
concerns, but there are a number of other hazards, such as hate crimes and
natural disasters, that endanger the lives of Americans across the country.
Even though dangers are present within every state of America, some are better
equipped to respond and prevent damage.
A study conducted by Wallethub ranked Louisiana as the
second most dangerous state in the country, after Mississippi. In order to
produce the overall rank, the investigation combined four dimensions: personal
and residential safety, financial safety, road safety, and workplace safety.
Out of the four indicators, the state of Louisiana ranked highest in road
safety, occupying position number 34. The lowest ranking that the state had was
in financial safety, earning place number 49. Louisiana also had some of the
highest rates of bullying and unemployment, as well as the highest total loss
amount from climate disasters per capita. The study concluded that the overall
safest state was Maine, followed by Vermont.
The four safety dimensions were based on data from a number
of indicators that were compiled and later used to produce the overall rank.
Some of the indicators included in the measurement of personal and residential
safety included sex offenders per capita and number of mass shootings.
Similarly, the dimension of financial safety measured factors such as
unemployment and poverty rates. For road safety, the study took into account things
like road quality and fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel.
Finally, the measurement of workplace safety focused on data related to
injuries and illnesses per 10,000 full-time workers and fatal occupation
injuries per 100,000 full-time workers.
