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 Valdosta, GA, metro area consists of Lowndes County, Brooks County, Lanier County, and one other county. In the past week, there were an average of 82.8 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Valdosta residents, greater than the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is a decrease from the week prior, when there was an average of 105.8 daily new cases per 100,000 Valdosta residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Valdosta metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Echols County. There were an average of 87.1 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Echols County during the past week, the most of the four counties in Valdosta with available data.

Case growth in the Valdosta metro area is relatively uniform at the county level. In Lanier County, for example, there were an average of 70.8 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Valdosta yet relatively in line with the case growth rate in Echols County.

While Echols County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Valdosta area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of September 16, there were a total of 17,231.9 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Echols County, the second most of the four 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 Echols County, unemployment peaked at 6.0% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 3.2%.

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	Echols County	3,981	87.1	59.0	17,231.9	226.1
2	Brooks County	15,590	85.0	114.4	14,746.6	359.2
3	Lowndes County	115,364	83.5	107.6	17,407.5	224.5
4	Lanier County	10,380	70.8	91.2	13,237.0	134.9

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