OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – As states across the country grapple with the consequences of the spread of the novel coronavirus in their communities, researchers are working to determine the best course of action against the virus.

The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19 has quickly spread across the globe, infecting almost 400,000 people and killing 17,000.

According to the World Health Organization, the virus is mainly spread through close contact with an infected person.

As a result, officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stress that Americans should practice ‘social distancing’ by staying away from crowds.

Many states have legally enforced social distancing by banning gatherings and closing all non-essential businesses.

“One of the most aggressive actions that states have taken thus far is to institute mandatory stay-home and shelter-in-place orders for all residents, along with nightly curfews,” said WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez. “Another drastic measure has been to ban all public gatherings.”

WalletHub recently compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 46 key metrics. The categories ranged from the tested cases of COVID-19 per capita to school closures, ICU beds, and shelter-in-place policies.

In a study of the ‘States with the Most Aggressive Measures in Limiting Viral Exposure,’ Oklahoma came in near the bottom.

Oklahoma ranked 46th in study with the following rankings:

Prevention & Containment Rank: 43rd

Risk Factors & Infrastructure Rank: 46th

Economic Impact Rank: 34th

State and Local Public Health Laboratories per Capita: 33rd

Tested Cases of COVID-19 per Capita: 44th

Public Hospital System Quality: 37th

Share of Employment from Small Businesses: 39th

Population Density: 17th

Share of Workers with Access to Paid Sick Leave: 23rd

Total Public Health Emergency Preparedness Funding per Capita: 27th

Public Healthcare Spending per Capita: 26th.

Researchers say Oklahoma also had one of the highest shares of the population without health insurance coverage.

So far, Oklahoma has 106 confirmed cases of COVID-19.