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 different neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.

The Baton Rouge, LA, metro area consists of East Baton Rouge Parish, Livingston Parish, Ascension Parish, and seven other parishes. In the past week, there were an average of 57.3 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Baton Rouge 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 32.7 daily new cases per 100,000 Baton Rouge residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring parishes. Within the Baton Rouge metro area, COVID-19 is growing the slowest in West Feliciana Parish. There were an average of 13.2 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in West Feliciana Parish during the past week, the least of the 10 parishes in Baton Rouge with available data.

Case growth in the Baton Rouge metro area varies widely at the parish level. In Ascension Parish, for example, there were an average of 82.4 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the most of any parish in Baton Rouge and far more than the case growth rate in West Feliciana Parish.

Just as West Feliciana Parish has the slowest case growth in the Baton Rouge area, it also has the lowest incidence of cases overall. As of July 29, there were a total of 8,076.2 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in West Feliciana Parish, the fewest of the 10 parishes 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 parish governments have ordered the closure of thousands of consumer-facing businesses. These measures have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In West Feliciana Parish, unemployment peaked at 9.0% in April 2020. As of April 2021, the parish’s unemployment rate was 4.5%.

To determine the parish 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 parishes 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 from the parish 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 parishes in Louisiana 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	West Feliciana Parish	15,428	13.2	10.7	8,076.2	220.4
2	Pointe Coupee Parish	22,016	40.2	27.2	13,049.6	340.7
3	St. Helena Parish	10,297	42.2	9.3	10,061.2	116.5
4	East Feliciana Parish	19,371	45.6	20.8	17,531.4	604.0
5	Iberville Parish	32,822	48.2	26.4	12,759.7	304.7
6	East Baton Rouge Parish	443,763	48.4	27.0	9,982.8	194.2
7	West Baton Rouge Parish	26,101	49.1	22.8	12,171.9	241.4
8	Assumption Parish	22,478	56.5	26.0	11,162.0	164.6
9	Livingston Parish	138,928	77.3	52.5	11,560.7	157.6
10	Ascension Parish	123,114	82.4	43.4	11,634.7	138.1

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