Rural deaths related to covid-19 increased 12% last week; see county-level data

Red-zone counties nationwide from Sept. 27-Oct. 3. Daily Yonder map. Click the image to enlarge it or click here for an interactive map with county-level data.

"The number of new covid-19 infections remained steady last week in rural America, but troubling levels of new infections placed an additional 68 rural counties on the White House red-zone list – an indication that authorities in those counties need to do more to control the spread of the virus," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. The White House Coronavirus Task Force defines red zones as places with at least 100 new coronavirus infections per 100,000 people in one week.

"A record-breaking 54% of the nation’s 1,976 rural counties were on the red-zone list last week," Murphy and Marema report. "New infections in rural America climbed only marginally last week but still managed to set a record for the second week in a row. Last week there were 60,968 new infections in rural counties, an increase of 58." Read more here, including an interactive map with county-level data.