Covid-19 deaths in rural areas up 20%, twice the metro rate; rural counties' current death rate is also double metro rate

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, Oct. 17-23
Map by The Daily Yonder; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

New coronavirus infections in rural counties continued declining during the week of Oct. 17-23, but Covid-19 deaths rose nearly 20 percent. The rural new-infection rate was still 78% higher than the metro rate, and the weekly death rate was 120% higher. "Rural counties reported nearly 30% of the Covid-related deaths in the United States, even though they constitute only 14% of the U.S. population," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder.

Rural counties saw 2,980 new Covid-19-related deaths, compared to metro counties' 8,302, Murphy and Marema report. The five states with the highest numbers of rural new infection were, in descending order, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. The five states with the highest rural new infection rates were, in descending order, Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and Idaho.

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