Special Report

This is the County in the Roanoke, VA Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: July 28, 2021 5:00 am

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the novel coronavirus continues to spread through the United States. To date, 34,092,714 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 604,940 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 Roanoke metropolitan area, located in Virginia, a total of 26,745 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 8,537 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 10,421 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Roanoke is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Roanoke metro area comprises six counties or county equivalents — and of them, Craig County in Virginia has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 336 infections in Craig County, or 6,571 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 117 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Craig County, below the 167 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Roanoke metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of July 23, 2021.

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