NJ Coronavirus Response Ranks Among Worst In America: Index

NEW JERSEY – New Jersey's strategy to curb the spread of coronavirus last year was ranked among the least effective in the nation, according to a new analysis by UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute.

New Jersey was ranked 46th out of 50 states in terms of performance despite having some of the toughest, more restrictive COVID-19 orders in the nation.

New Jersey also has among the fastest moving vaccination programs in the county and eligibility expanded to a number of groups on Monday. Read more: COVID-19 Vaccine Availability Expands Again In NJ: What To Know

New Jersey and Arizona were among the worst-performing states that saw significant outbreaks among communities of color and other vulnerable residents. New Jersey has been criticized for the way it handled the spread of the coronavirus in nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities and for not doing enough to protect elderly residents. Read more: Still No Answers In Case Of NJ 'Makeshift Morgue' Nursing Home

Another, South Dakota, saw one out of every 500 residents die from COVID-19 last year, the report said.

The most effective states, according to research published in the institute’s 2020 Inclusiveness Index, were those that put in place mitigation measures based on scientific data.

The institute's annual Inclusiveness Index typically ranks states and countries on their levels of inclusivity using six measures: outgroup violence, political representation, income inequality, anti-discrimination laws, rates of incarceration, and immigration and asylum policies.

The Institute added COVID-19 response to its 2020 index.

“What is clear, however, is that the pandemic has had a severe and disproportionate impact on communities of color, the elderly, and people with disabilities,” the report says. “Moreover, the response to the pandemic has revealed or exacerbated dysfunctions in our health care systems and governance.”

You can read more of the report here.

To compile the ranking, the Othering & Belonging Institute measured the performance of all 50 states and 172 countries primarily based on three factors: rates of infection, deaths and testing.

The data revealed a trend: state governments that were more aggressive in issuing mask mandates, stay-at-home orders, and physical distancing rules fared better than states that did not. Vermont, Alaska, and Maine were the three most effective states in responding to the coronavirus pandemic last year, the analysis said.

New Jersey took those steps, too, though the state has reopened much of its economy over the past six months, allowing 50 percent capacity in restaurants and many other businesses over the past months.

On the other end of the spectrum, the state with the poorest response to the virus according to the institute's measures was South Dakota, followed by Iowa and Mississippi.

Globally, the three most successful responses to COVID-19 came from the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, and Iceland. Other successful countries profiled in the report include New Zealand, Vietnam and Rwanda.

The bottom three countries on the list were San Marino, Montenegro and Belgium, all small European countries.

The United States, then led by President Donald Trump, ranked 161 out of 172 countries, placing it among the bottom 6 percent of countries.

Brazil and the United Kingdom were also near the bottom of the scale, scoring rankings of 155 and 141, respectively.