ECONOMIST ALAN REYNOLDS (no relation), on Facebook:

“Federal guidelines advise that states wait until they experience a downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period before proceeding to a phased opening. In the state-specific view of the graph, this two-week period is highlighted in orange if cases are trending upward, or green if they are trending down.

In [this Johns Hopkins] visualization, states that appear in shades of orange have experienced a growth in new cases over the past two weeks. States that appear in shades of green have seen declines in cases over the same period of time. The shade of the colors indicates the size of each state’s growth or decline in new cases; the darker the shade, the bigger the change.”

“Green” States in with a declining 14-day trend of new cases include, among others, Texas, Florida, Arizona and (most recently) California.

Nearly all Western states except Oklahoma are trending flat or down, as well as most of the South except Louisiana and Mississippi. In the East, only Rhode Island has a declining trend of new COVID-19 cases.

If this sounds like the exact opposite of what you’ve been hearing from the news, don’t blame the facts.

Here’s the chart.