New rural coronavirus infections and deaths fell last week, likely because of holiday data reporting disruptions

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, Nov. 21-27
Map by The Daily Yonder; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

New rural coronavirus infections and Covid-related deaths fell during the week of Nov. 21-27, likely due to lags in testing and reporting over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

"New infections in rural counties fell to about 100,000 last week, a drop of nearly 20% compared to two weeks ago. Covid-related deaths in rural counties dropped by nearly 30% to 1,380. New infections and deaths declined by similar percentages in metropolitan counties last week," Tim Marema reports for The Daily Yonder. "Before this week’s decline, rural infections had increased slightly for three weeks in a row." New York, Missouri and Pennsylvania had, in descending order, the highest rural infection rates last week.

"The death rate from Covid-19 in rural counties remained more than two times higher than the death rate in urban counties," Marema reports. "The rural infection rate was about 40% higher than the urban infection rate. Rural counties have had significantly higher rates of death and infections than urban areas since mid-August."

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