After adding over 934,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 42.1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 670,000 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 45.1 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 49.5 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 Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA, metro area consists of Douglas County, Sarpy County, Pottawattamie County, and five other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 71.2 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Omaha 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 5.4 daily new cases per 100,000 Omaha residents.
The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area, COVID-19 is growing the slowest in Harrison County, Iowa. There were an average of 34.8 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Harrison County during the past week, the least of the eight counties in Omaha with available data.
Case growth in the Omaha metro area varies at the county level. In Cass County, for example, there were an average of 82.1 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the most of any county in Omaha and more than the case growth rate in Harrison County.
While Harrison County has the slowest case growth in the Omaha area, it does not have the lowest incidence of cases overall. As of September 23, there were a total of 14,110.3 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Harrison County, the sixth fewest of the eight counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 12,985.5 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 Harrison County, unemployment peaked at 7.5% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 4.1%.
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 23. 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.
| Rank in MSA | County | Population | New daily cases per 100,000, week ending September 23 | New daily cases per 100,000, week ending September 16 | Cumulative cases per 100,000 | Cumulative deaths per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harrison County | 14,089 | 34.8 | 30.1 | 14,110.3 | 532.3 |
| 2 | Mills County | 15,034 | 39.9 | 28.5 | 12,318.7 | 159.6 |
| 3 | Pottawattamie County | 93,393 | 45.1 | 44.4 | 13,981.8 | 195.9 |
| 4 | Saunders County | 21,165 | 67.0 | 0.0 | 13,664.1 | 89.8 |
| 5 | Washington County | 20,361 | 72.5 | 0.0 | 12,627.1 | 137.5 |
| 6 | Douglas County | 560,617 | 73.8 | 0.0 | 14,645.1 | 136.5 |
| 7 | Sarpy County | 181,232 | 80.4 | 0.0 | 14,627.1 | 82.8 |
| 8 | Cass County | 25,888 | 82.1 | 0.0 | 12,391.8 | 61.8 |
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