New rural coronavirus infections fall for sixth straight week, but rural Covid-19 death rate rises for second week in a row

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, May 23-29
Daily Yonder map; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version

Rural America saw 21,179 new coronavirus infections last week, May 23-29, an 18 percent decrease from the previous week's 25,876 and the sixth consecutive week of declining cases. But "new Covid-related deaths in rural counties grew by about 25%, from 681 two weeks ago to 849 last week," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. "Deaths have grown by 40% over the past three weeks in rural counties, while climbing only 4% in metropolitan counties." The nationwide rural Covid-related death rate last week was 38% higher than the metropolitan rate.

That said, new rural infections last week were the lowest in nearly a year and down 91% from their January peak, and new rural deaths were still about 80% below their mid-January peak. "Half of the nations’ 1,976 rural counties saw decreases in infections last week. About a quarter of rural counties had an increase in cases, while another quarter had little change," Murphy and Marema report.

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