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 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 63.4 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Atlanta 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 was an average of 57.2 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 Dawson County. There were an average of 149.1 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Dawson 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 Gwinnett County, for example, there were an average of 48.3 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 Dawson County.

While Dawson County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Atlanta area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of September 16, there were a total of 17,492.7 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Dawson County, the fourth most of the 29 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 Dawson County, unemployment peaked at 11.7% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 3.1%.

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 September 16. 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 September. 16	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending September. 9	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Dawson County	24,536	149.1	136.2	17,492.7	220.1
2	Pike County	18,327	145.3	182.1	19,135.7	294.6
3	Pickens County	31,387	127.4	81.8	15,547.8	286.7
4	Spalding County	65,306	112.4	122.3	14,455.0	356.8
5	Butts County	24,090	102.8	110.7	17,754.3	386.1
6	Barrow County	78,991	100.5	85.8	16,910.8	207.6
7	Paulding County	159,825	99.5	82.4	14,532.8	168.9
8	Bartow County	104,919	93.4	89.9	17,980.5	265.0
9	Jasper County	13,916	89.3	105.1	14,422.2	337.7
10	Forsyth County	228,383	88.1	77.7	13,354.8	97.6
11	Lamar County	18,672	84.4	123.0	16,897.0	391.0
12	Douglas County	143,316	83.1	77.2	14,377.3	177.9
13	Cherokee County	247,515	83.0	80.3	16,361.0	152.3
14	Walton County	91,442	81.8	64.0	15,177.9	313.9
15	Henry County	225,356	79.1	87.2	15,587.8	170.8
16	Heard County	11,736	77.6	96.0	11,852.4	221.5
17	Coweta County	143,260	76.0	75.4	13,428.0	190.6
18	Haralson County	29,227	74.6	68.2	11,978.6	331.9
19	Carroll County	117,183	72.0	70.5	13,135.9	226.1
20	Newton County	108,079	68.9	60.7	13,876.0	266.5
21	Meriwether County	21,106	63.1	80.4	13,057.9	450.1
22	Cobb County	751,218	61.7	56.8	13,462.0	162.4
23	Rockdale County	89,717	60.7	48.7	11,647.7	221.8
24	Clayton County	283,538	56.8	53.0	12,554.9	209.1
25	Morgan County	18,507	56.2	53.8	15,318.5	183.7
26	Fayette County	112,303	53.7	54.3	10,885.7	174.5
27	DeKalb County	749,323	49.0	40.2	11,172.0	153.3
28	Fulton County	1,036,200	48.7	41.0	11,859.3	151.2
29	Gwinnett County	915,046	48.3	39.1	13,257.8	140.6

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