A year ago, health authorities announced the first confirmed U.S. Covid-19 case in Snohomish County, Wash., Near Seattle. Less than 11 months later, the virus reaches an isolated Hawaiian enclave established more than a century ago for patients with leprosy, now called Hansen’s disease.
It appears to be the last province in the U.S. to record a coronavirus case, according to a Wall Street Journal review of state records and data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
Since the first reported case, Covid-19 has been speeding in the U.S., infecting at least 24 million Americans and killing more than 400,000 people. The virus spread from large cities to sparsely populated rural provinces before eventually reaching even the most remote areas that worked diligently to keep the virus in check.
To identify the last of more than 3,000 provinces affected by the virus, The Journal reviewed data from Johns Hopkins and individual states to verify that Covid-19 reached each country in the 48 adjacent states and Hawaii. Alaska does not have formal provinces, but the coronavirus data dashboard shows cases in all the provinces and census areas of the state to which the state reports.
Over the course of the year, the roster of provinces hardest hit has generally shifted from populated to small before the current boom in winter.