Where COVID-19 has and hasn't spread since states reopened: Analysis

A look at public health data in several states by ABC News revealed the locations of the most COVID-19 outbreaks following their reopenings.

Bars, gyms and restaurants. Those were just a few settings health experts warned could become hotbeds for COVID-19 spread as states began reopening in the spring and summer of 2020 following the first and second waves of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. Yet, public data analyzed by ABC News appears to tell a different story. The data from states across the country suggests those shops and retail locations only accounted for a small percentage, if any, of new outbreaks after the pandemic's inital wave in 2020. While experts believe that mitigation measures such as reduced capacity, gradual reopening and mask wearing contributed to keeping outbreak numbers low, they say more could have been done to push those numbers down further and make testing and tracing more robust. The data is limited -- only a handful of states have released COVID-19 tracking information by setting or business sector upon reopening. And the traced cases only account for a tiny fraction of total cases in each state.