New rural coronavirus infections fell 12% last week, to lowest level since July 2020, when surges began

Rate of new coronavirus infections, by county, May 2-8
Daily Yonder map; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version

Last week, there were 27,502 new coronavirus cases in rural areas, a 12 percent drop from the previous week's total of 42,462 — the lowest level seen since July. Likewise, additional deaths related to Covid-19 fell 14% to 677 from the previous week's 734 deaths.

"The declines in cases and deaths came as rural counties surpassed 4.5 million total cases of Covid-19 and 90,000 Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic early in 2020," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder.

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