New rural coronavirus infections are down more than 20%, but the virus remains much more entrenched in rural areas

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, Oct. 24-30
Map by The Daily Yonder; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

New coronavirus infections and Covid-19-related deaths fell in rural and metropolitan areas during the last week of October, but the virus remains much more entrenched in rural counties, Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. Compared to metro rates, the rural new infection rate is 70 percent higher and the death rate is twice as high

During the week of Oct. 24-30, compared to the previous week, new coronavirus cases "dropped by 7% in nonmetropolitan (rural) counties, falling to about 102,000 new infections, down from 109,000 two weeks ago. New rural infections have dropped for six consecutive weeks and are now at half the level they were in September at the peak of the Delta-variant surge," Murphy and Marema report. Meanwhile, "infections in metropolitan counties dropped by 3% last week to 364,000. Metropolitan deaths dropped by 23% to 6,366."

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