New coronavirus infections in rural counties declined last week, but deaths rose slightly

New infection rates over Jan. 31-Feb. 6
Daily Yonder map; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

In the week of Jan. 31 through Feb. 6, new rural coronavirus infections declined for the fourth straight week, but rural Covid-19 deaths increased a little. The rural Covid-19 death rate was 34% higher than the urban rate.

"The death toll reached 3,547 in rural counties," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. "That’s up by about 1% from the week before. Rural counties averaged 541 deaths per day in the first seven days of February. The daily average is slightly higher than it was in January, the deadliest month so far for rural America. The number of new infections, meanwhile, fell by about 8% last week compared to two weeks ago. There were 115,359 new infections reported in rural counties last week, according to USA Facts." Click here for more data, analysis and charts from the Yonder, including nationwide and regional trends.