Interactive, county-level map shows higher rural infection rates in manufacturing areas through Thursday, May 7

Daily Yonder map; click on the image to enlarge it; click here for the interactive version.

"Covid-19 infections continued to spread more quickly in rural counties over the last week compared to the nation as a whole," Tim Marema and Bill Bishop report for The Daily Yonder. "The rise in the rural infection rate was especially pronounced in counties where manufacturing – which includes meatpacking – is a major part of the economy."

The Yonder included an interactive map that compares counties' infection rates to the national average for nonmetropolitan counties, which are classified as rural. "As of May 7, the rural counties classified as manufacturing (using a system devised by the USDA Economic Research Service) had an infection rate of 258.1 cases per 100,000 residents. The overall rural infection rate is 168.3," Bishop and Marema report.