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 neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.

The Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, metro area consists of Baltimore County, the city of Baltimore, Anne Arundel County, and four other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 16.2 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Baltimore 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 was an average of 15.8 daily new cases per 100,000 Baltimore residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Queen Anne’s County. There were an average of 21.3 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Queen Anne’s County during the past week, the most of the seven counties in Baltimore with available data.

Case growth in the Baltimore metro area varies at the county level. In Howard County, for example, there were an average of 13.2 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Baltimore and more than the case growth rate in Queen Anne’s County.

While Queen Anne’s County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Baltimore area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of September 23, there were a total of 6,999.5 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Queen Anne’s County, the fifth most of the seven 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 Queen Anne’s County, unemployment peaked at 10.0% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 5.2%.

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 23. 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 Maryland 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. 23	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending September. 16	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Queen Anne’s County	49,632	21.3	20.1	6,999.5	120.9
2	Anne Arundel County	571,275	19.1	19.5	8,658.5	125.5
3	Harford County	252,222	18.0	19.8	7,508.5	130.4
4	Baltimore city	609,032	15.8	14.4	9,517.1	213.1
5	Carroll County	167,699	15.6	15.4	6,402.5	163.4
6	Baltimore County	828,018	15.0	13.8	8,736.3	211.6
7	Howard County	318,855	13.2	13.3	6,748.5	84.4

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