Missouri among least restrictive states

A new national study has ranked Missouri as the fourth least restrictive state when it comes to coronavirus guidelines.

The study, released Tuesday by the personal finance website WalletHub, said only three states — South Dakota, Utah and North Dakota — have had fewer restrictions in place during the COVID-19 pandemic than Missouri.

The states with the most restrictions, the study said, are Hawaii followed by Rhode Island, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The District of Columbia is also listed among the most restrictive regions of the nation, ranking between Rhode Island and Illinois. The study was compiled on the basis of data available for each state as of Monday afternoon.

According to the study, Missouri is the nation’s least restrictive state when it comes to travel restrictions and requiring people to wear a face mask in public.

The study also ranks Missouri as the third least restrictive state in the categories of large gatherings restrictions and reopening of restaurants and bars, seventh least restrictive on its “shelter-in-place” order, and 15th least restrictive for its policy on reopening of nonessential businesses.

In order to identify states with the fewest coronavirus restrictions, WalletHub analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across nine metrics, with some given more weight than others. For instance, the strictness of a state’s “shelter-in-place” order was given twice the importance of face mask requirements and four times the value of travel restrictions.

Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale with a score of 100 representing the fewest restrictions. Weighted averages were then calculated across all metrics to determine an overall score for each state.

South Dakota, the nation’s least restrictive state, had a score of 89.23 followed by Utah at 73.85, North Dakota at 70.77 and Missouri with a score of 67.95. Hawaii, the nation’s most restrictive state, had a score of 6.15. With 17 reported coronavirus deaths as of Wednesday, Hawaii is tied with Alaska and Wyoming as the states with the fewest deaths per capita in the nation.

With its 396 reported deaths as of Wednesday, Missouri ranks 26th among the 50 states in terms of COVID-19 deaths per capita.

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