Total rural coronavirus cases top 1 million as new rural infections break record for fourth week straight

New coronavirus infections from Oct. 11 through 17
Daily Yonder map; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version with county-level data.

"Covid-19 spread in rural America at a record-breaking pace again last week, adding 160 counties to the red-zone list and bringing the total number of rural Americans who have tested positive for the coronavirus to more than 1 million," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. "Rural America had 82,188 new infections last week, a 16 percent increase and the fourth consecutive week of record-breaking levels of new cases. With last week’s cases, the total number of rural residents who have tested positive for the coronavirus broke 1 million (1,068,949), according to data compiled by the nonprofit USA Facts."

The new-infection rate in rural counties "now exceeds the urban rate by 63%, according to this week’s Daily Yonder analysis, which covers Sunday, October 11, through Saturday, October 17," Murphy and Marema report. Almost 70% of rural counties are now classified as red zones by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, meaning they have at least 100 new infections per 100,000 people.

Click here for more analysis and charts from The Daily Yonder, including an interactive map with the latest county-level data.