RALEIGH – A new study that ranks North Carolina dead last among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for COVID-19 support may add new fuel to the fire that’s expected to ignite today as the General Assembly returns to Raleigh for a legislative session.

Differences are already clear with Gov. Roy Cooper offering a plan calling for $1.4 billion in initiatives and the Republican-led Senate expecting a revenue shortfall.

Also clear, says financial news and information site WalletHub, is that North Carolina is not providing support to the degree other states are based on a review of 17 data metrics. The state received an overall score of 17.68. Massachusetts had the top score at 69.94 out of a possible 100.

“Our data set ranges from whether the state will offer free vaccinations once a vaccine exists to the share of households in poverty that receive social assistance,” a spokesperson for WalletHub says.

Here’s what the study says about North Carolina in terms of coronavirus support with No. 1 as the best ranking, No. 51 as worst:

29 th – Coronavirus Relief Fund per Capita

– Coronavirus Relief Fund per Capita 37 th – Adoption of Telehealth Services

– Adoption of Telehealth Services 23 rd – Share of Households in Poverty Receiving Social Assistance

– Share of Households in Poverty Receiving Social Assistance 32 nd – Share of Sheltered Homeless Population

– Share of Sheltered Homeless Population 51 st – Unemployment Insurance Recipiency Rate

– Unemployment Insurance Recipiency Rate 44th – Ratio of Average Weekly Wage Covered by Unemployment Benefit

In specific criteria, the state ranked:

49th for coronavirus relief and medical services

34th in food and housing assistance

47th in unemployment support

The bottom 10 in the rankins:

Top 5, bottom 5 in select categories

WalletHub breaks down the top five and bottom five across various cateogories in this graphic:

“In order to determine the states with the best support systems to protect at-risk populations from COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 17 key metrics. Our data set includes factors like whether the state will offer a free coronavirus vaccine once one exists and whether it has adopted long-distance healthcare technology,” WalletHub says.

“It also includes metrics such as the coronavirus relief fund per capita and the share of households in poverty receiving social assistance. Read on for the state ranking, additional insight from a panel of experts and a complete description of our methodology.”

Read the full study online.

WalletHub recently reported that North Carolina – the nation’s ninth largest in terms of population – ranked fifth in jobs lost due to the pandemdic.