After adding over 36,000 new cases on May 13, the U.S. now has more than 32.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 570,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country.

New cases continue to rise at a steady rate. In the past week, there were an average of 13.6 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 15.3 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people.

While COVID-19 has spread to nearly every part of the country, cities continue to be the sites of major outbreaks. Experts agree that the virus is more likely to spread in group settings where large numbers of people routinely have close contact with one another, such as colleges, nursing homes, bars, and restaurants. Metropolitan areas with a high degree of connectivity between neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.

The Richmond, VA, metro area consists of Henrico County, Chesterfield County, the city of Richmond, and 14 other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 9.9 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Richmond residents, in line with the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there was an average of 13.6 daily new cases per 100,000 Richmond residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Richmond metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Petersburg city. There were an average of 19.8 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Petersburg city during the past week, the most of the 17 counties in Richmond with available data.

Case growth in the Richmond metro area varies widely at the county level. In Goochland County, for example, there were an average of 4.1 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Richmond and far more than the case growth rate in Petersburg city.

Just as Petersburg city is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Richmond area, it also has the highest incidence of cases overall. As of May 13, there were a total of 12,301.5 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Petersburg city, the most of the 17 counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 9,997.3 cases per 100,000 Americans nationwide.

In order to slow the spread of COVID-19, city and county governments have ordered the closure of thousands of consumer-facing businesses. These measures have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Petersburg city, unemployment peaked at 19.0% in July 2020. As of March 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 12.9%.

To determine the county in every metropolitan area where COVID-19 is growing the fastest, 24/7 Wall St. compiled and reviewed data from state and local health departments. We ranked counties according to the average number of new daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the seven days ending May 13. To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data up from the county level using boundary definitions from the U.S. Census Bureau. Population data used to adjust case and death totals came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey and are five-year estimates. Unemployment data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is not seasonally adjusted.

These are all the counties in Virginia where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).

Rank in MSA	County	Population	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending May 13	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending May 6	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Petersburg city	31,362	19.8	25.9	12,301.5	267.8
2	King William County	16,688	16.9	23.4	7,298.7	65.9
3	Colonial Heights city	17,428	16.4	17.6	9,794.6	350.0
4	Chesterfield County	343,551	13.3	14.4	8,052.7	124.6
5	Amelia County	12,953	11.7	15.6	6,925.0	247.0
6	King and Queen County	7,042	11.6	6.7	5,623.4	113.6
7	Hopewell city	22,456	11.1	22.1	11,480.2	320.6
8	Prince George County	38,114	11.0	18.8	9,243.3	73.5
9	Henrico County	327,535	8.8	13.4	7,711.2	185.6
10	Powhatan County	28,815	8.4	12.0	6,621.6	55.5
11	Charles City County	7,014	8.1	10.2	7,128.6	228.1
12	Dinwiddie County	28,485	8.0	7.7	7,435.5	151.0
13	Richmond city	226,622	7.4	10.8	7,475.0	114.3
14	New Kent County	21,686	6.8	10.3	6,866.2	78.4
15	Sussex County	11,377	4.8	10.8	10,415.8	184.6
16	Hanover County	105,537	4.3	11.6	7,608.7	146.9
17	Goochland County	22,865	4.1	12.9	6,289.1	100.6

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