Rural coronavirus infections and deaths are lowest in a year

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, May 30-June 5
Daily Yonder map; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version

New coronavirus infections and Covid-19 deaths in rural America have fallen to their lowest levels in a year during the week of May 30-June 5. "The total number of new cases in non-metropolitan counties dropped by about 25 percent, from 21,179 two weeks ago to 15,766 last week. During the same period, the number of Covid-related deaths in rural counties dropped by more than a third, from 849 to 538," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. "Metropolitan counties saw similar declines."

The number of rural counties in the red zone (with 100 or more infections per 100,000 residents) likewise hit its lowest level in at least a year. "Last week only 119 rural counties were on the red-zone list," Murphy and Marema report. "At the height of the pandemic’s surge in January, 95% of the nation’s 1,976 nonmetropolitan counties were in the red zone. The Daily Yonder began tracking red-zone counties in the first week of June last year, when 138 counties were on the list.

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