Is Social Distancing Hitting Michigan The Hardest?

Michigan is one of the 'Most Social States in the U.S.' according to a recent study.

First let's look at the numbers.  Then we'll talk about what those numbers mean.

First of all, Michigan has the 4th most Covid-19 cases in the U.S. behind New York, New Jersey and California.  That statistic is alarming.  However, the number of cases does depend on the number of people tested in each state.

Secondly, Michigan was ranked the 8th most social state in the U.S.

Here's how they came up with the rankings you see below:

To find the most social places in America, LendingTree researchers gathered data for seven metrics from the 2018 American Time Use survey. Specifically, we looked at time spent on phone calls, mail and email; socializing and communicating; sports exercise and recreation; religious and spiritual activities; volunteering; caring for and helping household members and caring for and helping non-household members. We then added up the average amount of time spent doing each activity per day. This gave us the average amount of time a person in each place spent in social situations per day. We ranked the places from highest to lowest based on this figure.

I'm not going to lie.  The top 10 'Most Social States in the U.S.' seems way off to me.  The only states on the list that make sense to me are Michigan and Hawaii.  What do you think?

1 Rhode Island
2 Idaho
3 New Hampshire
4 Wyoming
5 Montana
6 Utah
7 Vermont
8 Michigan 
9 Hawaii
10 South Dakota

Regardless of the other questionable states on the list above.  Being one of the most social states in the U.S. in combination with a high number of confirmed Covid-19 cases seems dangerous.  Please stay home and stay safe.