Death rates from covid vary widely by state, according to new research from the University of Illinois.

“We found that in some states it was as low as about 300-400 years of life lost per 10,000 people, and in other states it goes up to as much as about 1200-1300,” said Julian Reif, an associate professor of economics and finance at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “That’s because of differences both in the number of people who died in these different states as well as the ages at which they died.”

But Reif could not pinpoint the reason for the higher death rates in the South and West. “One possibility is the virus was spreading more rampantly out there. That could be due to climate conditions,” he said. “But also, of course, it could be due to the behavior of individuals. Areas of the country where people took fewer protections against the virus – more mingling, things like that, that could certainly contribute to its spread.”

Reif’s research is presented as a “policy spotlight” through the university’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs.

Click here for the study.