The rate of new Covid-19 infections climbed by more than a third last week, but the rural rate remained lower than the new infection rate in metropolitan counties, according to a Daily Yonder analysis.
Meanwhile, the weekly number of deaths from Covid-19 dropped by nearly a third in rural counties and remained relatively stable in metropolitan America.
New infections climbed to about 65,000 in rural America last week, up from 48,000 two weeks ago. Last week’s new cases were the largest number reported in rural counties since early March, when the nation was emerging from the Omicron surge.
Metropolitan counties reported 708,000 new infections last week, an increase of about 26% from two weeks ago.
The actual number of new Covid-19 infections in the U.S. is likely much higher, in part because Americans can test at home and those results are generally not part of public-health reports.
Whatever the actual number of infections, the trend in the data indicates that Covid-19 is on the rise in most parts of the U.S. The rural rate of new infections is nearly four times higher than it was at the end of this springs Omicron surge. In metropolitan counties, the current rate of new infections is five times higher than the low point following the Omicron surge.
Red Zone Counties on the Rise
Another sign that new infections are on the rise is the increase in the number of counties in the red zone, defined as having 100 or more new infections per 100,000 residents in one week’s time.
