New coronavirus infections jumped 20% in rural counties last week, to record, as infections in metro counties fell 8%

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, Jan. 16-22
Map by The Daily Yonder; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

Rural counties reported a record 654,000 new coronavirus infections from Jan. 16-22, a 20 percent increase from the previous week, while metropolitan counties fell by about 8% to just under 4 million. The coronavirus "is now spreading in rural counties faster than in metropolitan areas for the first time since the start of the Omicron surge in mid-December," Tim Marema reports for The Daily Yonder.

Covid-related deaths in rural counties rose 2% to 2,136 last week while metropolitan deaths increased nearly 20%. "The rural death rate remained slightly higher than the urban death rate, but the gap has narrowed during the Omicron surge," Marema reports. "The rural rate was about two times that of metropolitan areas before December. Currently the rural death rate is just 9% higher than the metropolitan rate."

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