New rural coronavirus infections appeared to drop last week, possibly because of holiday reporting schedules

New rural coronavirus infection rates, Nov. 22-28. Daily Yonder map; 
click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

New infections of the novel coronavirus in rural areas appeared to decrease last week, after 10 consecutive weeks of record-high new infection rates, but it may be a mirage caused by the holiday: "the long-awaited decline occurred during a week when more than a third of U.S. states altered their reporting schedule because of the Thanksgiving holiday," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. "The autumn wave has shown some signs of weakening in recent weeks, but the Thanksgiving reporting anomalies mean it’s hard to tell if this week’s decrease reflects changes in the actual number of infections or just a foreshortened reporting schedule."

Even with the apparent dip in new infections, new covid-related deaths rose last week to a record high of 2,581, a 6 percent increase from the week before and the fourth record-high week in a row, Murphy and Marema report.

Nationwide, new cases reported on Thanksgiving Day were about 25% lower than the daily average for the week. "Rural counties reported new covid-19 infections totaling 197,823 last week, November 22-28, That’s a drop of about 8% from the previous week," Murphy and Marema report. "But 19 states reported zero new cases on Thanksgiving Day. Five states missed at least three out of seven days’ worth of reports last week."

Click here for more data and insights, including an interactive map with the latest county-level data.