New rural Covid cases steady last week; metro death rate may be higher than rural for first time in over a year

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, June 14-20
Map by The Daily Yonder; click on the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

New coronavirus infections in counties outside metropolitan areas stayed relatively steady during the week of June 14-20 while Covid-related deaths in rural counties fell by about one-third. One noteworthy trend: For the first time in over a year, the weekly death rate in metro counties was higher than that in rural counties, Tim Marema reports for The Daily Yonder. However, data was missing for Mississippi, which could skew the results.

"Rural counties reported about 61,100 new infections last week, down about 7% from two weeks ago. Metropolitan counties reported a 15% reduction in new cases, from 647,000 two weeks ago to 554,000 last week," Marema reports. "An additional 277 rural Americans died from Covid-19 last week, down from 433 two weeks ago. In metropolitan counties, the number of Covid-related deaths fell by about 20%, from 2,184 two weeks ago to 1,728 last week." Click here for more charts, regional analysis, and county-level interactive maps from the Yonder.