Special Report

This Is the County in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro Area with the Most Deaths from COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: September 24, 2021 4:15 am

The ongoing spread of the delta variant is claiming lives and threatening a return to normalcy in the United States. So far, 671,728 Americans have died from the virus — more than the total number of Americans killed in World War I and World War II combined.

In the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, located in Florida, a total of 6,892 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 227 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 205 deaths have been attributed to the virus per 100,000 people.

The higher than average per capita COVID-19 death rate across the metro area is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Tampa metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Hernando County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Hernando County stands at 411 for every 100,000 people.

With the highest per capita death rate in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area, Hernando County ranks among the top 10% of all U.S. counties or county equivalents by COVID-19 death rate per capita.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Sept. 22, 2021.

These are all the counties in Florida where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).