Special Report

COVID-19: This is the Least Dangerous County in the Idaho Falls, ID Metro Area

Samuel Stebbins

Published: June 18, 2021 2:45 am

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the novel coronavirus continues to spread through the United States. To date, 33,151,678 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 594,888 have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Idaho Falls metropolitan area, located in Idaho, a total of 18,249 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 12,764 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 10,133 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Idaho Falls than they are nationwide, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Idaho Falls metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Butte County in Idaho has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 212 infections in Butte County, or 8,148 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Butte County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Idaho Falls metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 38 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Butte County, below the 145 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Idaho Falls metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of June 16, 2021.

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