New rural coronavirus infections up 50% in past two weeks

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, April 25-May 1
Map by The Daily Yonder; click on the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

The rate of new coronavirus infections in nonmetropolitan counties rose more than half over the past two weeks, "but the overall number of new infections remains nearly as low as it was last summer before the start of the Delta surge," Tim Marema reports for The Daily Yonder. Nonmetro counties reported almost 29,000 new infections from April 25 to May 1, up about 20% from the week before. Metro counties reported over 335,000 new infections, up 18%.

Meanwhile, "Last week’s death rate grew modestly in both rural and urban counties," Marema reports. "Covid-related deaths increased slightly last week in rural counties, climbing to 699 from 670 two weeks ago. The death rate in metropolitan counties decreased slightly last week ... The Covid death rate has been higher in rural counties than metropolitan ones for 86 out of the last 91 weeks. The cumulative rural death rate is about 36% higher than the metropolitan death rate."

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