New rural coronavirus infections break single-week record last week as cases more than doubled from the week before

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, Jan. 1-8
Map by The Daily Yonder; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

Nonmetropolitan counties reported 393,000 new coronavirus cases Jan. 1-8, setting a new record for infections in a single seven-day period and increasing more than 205,000 from the week before. "That’s the largest single-week increase in new cases since the pandemic hit rural America in March 2020," Tim Marema reports for The Daily Yonder. "The previous record was 232,000 new cases, recorded one year ago this week at the height of the winter 2021 surge."

Though Omicron-variant infections were slow to infiltrate rural areas, "Rural counties are now seeing higher rates of infection increase than metropolitan areas," Marema reports. "New infections grew by 110% in rural counties last week. In metropolitan counties, new cases grew by 60%."

Deaths related to Covid-19 are rising in both rural and metropolitan counties. Rural counties reported 2,264 new deaths last week, an increase of about 20% over the week before. Metropolitan counties reported 8,407 new deaths in the same time period, a 25% jump from the previous week.

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