New rural Covid cases up 18% last week; deaths up 70%

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, Aug. 15-21
Daily Yonder map; click the map to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

During the week of Aug. 15-21, nonmetropolitan counties saw 161,326 new coronavirus infections, an 18 percent increase from the week before, and 1,513 deaths, a nearly 70% spike from the previous week, Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. About two-thirds of the new infections and half the deaths were in the South.

"New infections spread more quickly in rural counties than in metropolitan ones last week, resulting in a rural infection rate that is 25% higher than the metropolitan rate," Murphy and Marema report. "The current rate of Covid-related deaths is more than two times higher in rural counties than metropolitan ones."

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