New coronavirus cases spiked nearly 50% in rural counties last week, and deaths rose for the first time in two months

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, July 11-17
Daily Yonder map; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version

Nonmetropolitan counties saw nearly 50 percent more new coronavirus infections during the week of July 11-17 than the week before, Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. That was mostly driven by cases in and near Missouri and Florida, mostly the highly contagious Delta variant.

"New infections in rural counties grew from 19,517 two weeks ago to 28,479 last week, a climb of 46%. The number of new infections in rural counties has more than doubled in the last month," the Yonder reports. "Deaths in rural counties climbed from 282 two weeks ago to 354 last week, an increase of 26%. That’s the first increase in rural deaths in two months. Covid-19 deaths are a trailing indicator, and the increase likely reflects higher rates of new infections that began one month ago."

Infections and deaths also increased in metropolitan counties: "Metro cases grew by 66% last week to 181,638. Metro deaths related to Covid-19 climbed by 5% to 1,1262 last week," Murphy and Marema report. Click here for Yonder charts, regional analysis, and the interactive county-level map.