After adding over 514,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 34.2 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 20.0 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — an increase from the week prior, when there were an average of 10.3 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 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA, metro area consists of Fulton County, Gwinnett County, DeKalb County, and 26 other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 11.9 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Atlanta residents, less than 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 8.3 daily new cases per 100,000 Atlanta residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Henry County. There were an average of 23.2 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Henry County during the past week, the most of the 29 counties in Atlanta with available data.

Case growth in the Atlanta metro area varies widely at the county level. In Dawson County, for example, there were an average of 6.0 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Atlanta and far more than the case growth rate in Henry County.

While Henry County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Atlanta area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of July 29, there were a total of 11,838.2 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Henry County, the ninth most of the 29 counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 10,550.2 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 Henry County, unemployment peaked at 13.4% in April 2020. As of April 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 4.1%.

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 July 29. 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 Georgia 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. 29	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending July. 22	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Henry County	225,356	23.2	12.1	11,838.2	150.9
2	Bartow County	104,919	19.6	12.0	14,550.3	229.7
3	Heard County	11,736	17.2	5.7	7,771.0	196.0
4	Newton County	108,079	16.3	8.0	10,767.1	245.2
5	Rockdale County	89,717	15.9	11.4	9,059.6	201.7
6	Douglas County	143,316	15.3	9.3	11,125.1	162.6
7	Pickens County	31,387	13.1	10.4	11,402.8	254.9
8	Clayton County	283,538	12.8	8.2	9,918.6	185.9
9	Cobb County	751,218	12.3	9.0	10,891.9	149.1
10	Paulding County	159,825	12.3	11.5	11,116.5	148.3
11	Fayette County	112,303	12.1	7.7	8,349.7	158.5
12	Spalding County	65,306	12.1	6.7	10,133.8	313.9
13	Coweta County	143,260	11.4	8.5	10,259.0	163.3
14	Fulton County	1,036,200	11.3	8.5	9,780.5	143.3
15	Pike County	18,327	11.2	5.8	13,084.5	240.1
16	Haralson County	29,227	11.2	8.4	9,385.2	311.4
17	Cherokee County	247,515	11.1	6.5	12,933.4	136.2
18	Carroll County	117,183	11.0	8.6	10,072.3	210.8
19	Walton County	91,442	11.0	6.6	11,919.0	289.8
20	DeKalb County	749,323	10.9	6.4	9,142.7	144.4
21	Lamar County	18,672	10.8	4.9	11,262.9	316.0
22	Gwinnett County	915,046	9.5	8.2	11,456.9	132.8
23	Morgan County	18,507	9.4	14.8	11,838.8	167.5
24	Forsyth County	228,383	9.2	6.6	10,193.0	89.8
25	Meriwether County	21,106	9.2	2.3	9,921.3	431.2
26	Barrow County	78,991	7.3	10.0	13,139.5	186.1
27	Butts County	24,090	6.9	11.9	13,520.1	373.6
28	Jasper County	13,916	6.7	4.0	10,254.4	287.4
29	Dawson County	24,536	6.0	3.4	12,764.9	199.7

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