New rural virus infections and deaths down 2nd week in row

New coronavirus infection rate, Jan. 17-23. Daily Yonder map.
Click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

A downward trend in new coronavirus infections and Covid-19 deaths in rural counties and nationwide from Jan. 17-23 suggest that the post-holiday surge is waning.

New rural infections "fell by 20% for the second week in a row, dropping to levels not seen since early November. The number of Covid-related deaths also declined, after reaching a record-setting high two weeks ago," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. "New infections in nonmetropolitan counties last week totaled 148,302. The number is about 36% lower than the record high set three weeks ago. The number of deaths attributed to Covid-19 last week was 3,476. That’s 13% lower than the previous week’s death toll, which set a record high of 4,127. Since the start of the pandemic, 63,862 residents of rural America have died from causes related to Covid-19."

Click here for more from the Yonder, including an interactive map with county-level data.