New rural coronavirus cases increase for the second week in a row as metro cases drop; see county-level data

New coronavirus infection rates from Aug. 29-Sept. 5. Daily Yonder map;
click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

The number of new coronavirus infections in nonmetropolitan counties "grew again last week, marking the second week in a row that rural cases increased while metropolitan cases declined," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. "New rural infections increased by 5% from Saturday, August 29, to Saturday, September 5, from 49,100 to 51,600. During the same period, the number of new cases in metropolitan counties declined slightly, dropping by 0.2%, to approximately 237,000. Metropolitan cases have declined for six consecutive weeks."

The number of rural "red-zone" counties increased from 767 to 806, breaking last week's record. Red-zone counties are those with at least 100 new cases per 100,000 people in a week, as defined by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. "The number of new cases that originated in rural red-zone counties grew by more than 17%, an indication that the virus is deepening in these harder-hit areas," Murphy and Marema report. "This is the first time the number of cases originating in rural red-zone counties has increased in four weeks."