After adding over 289,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 33.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 600,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country.

New cases continue to rise at a faster rate. In the past week, there were an average of 10.3 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — an increase from the week prior, when there were an average of 4.2 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 different neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.

The Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR, metro area consists of Pulaski County, Faulkner County, Saline County, and three other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 52.1 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Little Rock residents, greater than the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is an increase from the week prior, when there were an average of 22.6 daily new cases per 100,000 Little Rock residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway metro area, COVID-19 is growing the slowest in Lonoke County. There were an average of 47.5 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Lonoke County during the past week, the least of the six counties in Little Rock with available data.

Case growth in the Little Rock metro area varies at the county level. In Perry County, for example, there were an average of 83.0 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the most of any county in Little Rock and more than the case growth rate in Lonoke County.

While Lonoke County has the slowest case growth in the Little Rock area, it does not have the lowest incidence of cases overall. As of July 22, there were a total of 11,275.6 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Lonoke County, the sixth fewest of the six counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 10,391.7 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 Lonoke County, unemployment peaked at 9.4% in April 2020. As of April 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 3.4%.

To determine the county in every metropolitan area where COVID-19 is growing the slowest, 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 July 22. To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data 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 Arkansas 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 July 22	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending July 15	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Lonoke County	72,528	47.5	27.7	11,275.6	182.0
2	Saline County	119,415	50.7	23.5	11,193.7	146.5
3	Grant County	18,126	51.6	22.9	10,460.1	209.6
4	Pulaski County	392,967	52.2	21.4	11,067.9	174.6
5	Faulkner County	123,624	53.5	21.1	11,223.5	135.9
6	Perry County	10,355	83.0	42.2	9,396.4	115.9

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