New rural coronavirus infections, deaths up for fourth week

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, July 12-18
Map by The Daily Yonder; click on the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

New coronavirus infections and deaths in counties outside metropolitan areas rose modestly during the week of July 12-18, marking the fourth straight week of rising rates, Tim Marema reports for The Daily Yonder. Rural counties reported 101,575 new coronavirus infections July 12-18, up 3.3% from 98,293 the week before. Metro counties reported 749,593 new infections in the same time period, up 4% from the previous week's 720,721.

The true number of cases is likely much higher than the official count, due to at-home testing and data-reporting gaps, but "even with a substantial undercount in new cases, 80% of all rural counties are in the red zone, defined as having 100 or more cases per 100,000 residents in a seven-day period," Marema reports. "The percentage of red-zone counties is even higher in metropolitan counties – over 90%."

The death rate remains fairly low in both rural and metro counties, likely because of higher immunity and/or milder dominant strains of the virus. "Rural counties reported 476 deaths from Covid-19 last week, up 14% from two weeks ago. Metropolitan counties reported 2,383 deaths, up 17% from two weeks ago," Marema reports. The Covid-related death rate has been higher in rural counties for all but one week in the past year, and the cumulative death rate is more than one-third higher in rural counties than in metro counties.