New rural coronavirus infections climbed 9% last week

Rates of new coronavirus infections, March 28-April 3
Daily Yonder map; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

From March 28 through April 3, new rural coronavirus infections increased by about 9 percent over the week before, to a total of 45,353. "This is the second consecutive week that cases have increased, after a three-month decline that began at the start of 2021. Rural America’s current rate of new infections is 80% lower than it was at the peak of the winter surge in early January," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. "The number of new Covid-related deaths in rural areas totaled 835, a decline of 5% from two weeks ago."

Meanwhile, new rural Covid-related deaths—a lagging pandemic indicator—totaled 835 last week, a 5% drop from the week before, Murphy and Marema report. Click here for more data, charts and regional analysis from the Yonder, including an interactive map with county-level data.