New rural coronavirus infections hit new high for seventh straight week; 80% of rural counties now federal 'red zones'

Coronavirus zones, Nov. 1-7. Daily Yonder map; click the image to enlarge it or click here to view the interactive version.

From Nov. 1 through 7, new coronavirus infections in rural counties grew 30 percent, setting a record for the seventh week in a row. "There were 144,043 new infections in rural counties last week, up from about 110,000 the week before," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder.

Also last week, 97 more rural counties were added to the red-zone list to bring the total to 1,599. That's four-fifths of all non-metropolitan counties, the Yonder notes. Red zones are defined by the White House Coronavirus Task Force as those with at least 1 new infection per 1,000 people in a week. 

"The current surge originated in rural areas two months ago and more recently has spread into metropolitan counties," Murphy and Marema report. "Previously, metropolitan counties had their worst new infection rates in July. But those counties surpassed those summer peaks for the past two weeks."

Click here for more data and analysis, including the latest county-level infection numbers.