After adding over 1,076,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 41.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 650,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country.

New cases continue to rise at a steady rate. In the past week, there were an average of 49.5 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 45.4 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 Springfield, MO, metro area consists of Greene County, Christian County, Webster County, and two other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 23.5 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Springfield 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 were an average of 25.0 daily new cases per 100,000 Springfield residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Springfield metro area, COVID-19 is growing the slowest in Greene County. There were an average of 21.2 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Greene County during the past week, the least of the five counties in Springfield with available data.

Case growth in the Springfield metro area varies at the county level. In Webster County, for example, there were an average of 35.6 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the most of any county in Springfield and more than the case growth rate in Greene County.

While Greene County has the slowest case growth in the Springfield area, it does not have the lowest incidence of cases overall. As of September 16, there were a total of 14,298.6 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Greene County, the third fewest of the five counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 12,697.8 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 Greene County, unemployment peaked at 9.5% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 4.0%.

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 September 16. 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 Missouri 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 September 16	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending September 9	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Greene County	289,756	21.2	24.3	14,298.6	219.5
2	Dallas County	16,617	23.1	25.2	12,980.7	228.7
3	Polk County	31,748	24.0	26.8	15,484.4	151.2
4	Christian County	85,658	25.6	24.5	14,389.8	170.4
5	Webster County	38,655	35.6	29.2	13,987.8	214.7

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