Infection and death rates dropped nationwide last week, but rural counties saw the most dramatic decline in both infection and death rates. For the second week in a row, rural infection rates were lower than urban rates.
Infections
Rural America reported 34,127 new infections last week, a 10.8% decline from two weeks ago. The infection rate in rural areas was 74.09 new cases per 100,000 residents, 12% lower than the urban rate.
In urban areas, the infection rate was 84.4 cases per 100,000 residents, less than a one percent decline from the previous week. Urban infections totaled 238,167 last week, but the actual number of infections was likely much higher since the CDC does not report on cases detected through home testing.
Deaths
Covid-19 deaths totaled 374 in rural counties last week, a 19.6% decline from the 465 deaths reported the previous week. The death rate in rural America was .81 deaths per 100,000 residents.
In metropolitan counties, Covid-19 deaths totaled 1,785 last week. The death rate per 100,000 was .63, 28.4% lower than the rural rate.
Cumulatively, the rural Covid-19 death rate was 406.76 deaths per 100,000 residents, a rate 37% higher than the metropolitan rate of 296.78 deaths per 100,000.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
