About a third of the nation’s rural counties have reported a case of coronavirus as of Thursday, March 26. Those cases have resulted in 32 deaths, an increase of 11 from Wednesday.
The number of COVID-19 cases in rural America grew by 613 yesterday, bringing the total number of cases reported in rural counties to 2,773.
The Daily Yonder is tracking coronavirus reports using data from USA Facts. USA Facts reports that it changed its tracking methodology in the past day, meaning some of the differences may be the result of how the data is collected or categorized.
Eighty rural counties had their first case of reported coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the total number of rural, or nonmetropolitan, counties with confirmed cases to 686. There are 1,960 counties in the rural classification we are using for these reports. That means 35% of rural counties now have cases of coronavirus.
More than three-quarters of the nation’s 1,164 metropolitan counties have reported coronavirus cases.
The map has data for both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties.