Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Owensboro, KY Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: October 20, 2021 3:00 am

Following a months long surge driven by the delta variant, new daily cases of COVID-19 are falling once again in the United States. To date, 44,501,723 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 716,720 have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Owensboro metropolitan area, located in Kentucky, a total of 19,379 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 16,425 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 13,602 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Owensboro than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Owensboro metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, McLean County in Kentucky has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,432 infections in McLean County, or 15,347 for every 100,000 people.

Though McLean County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Owensboro metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 407 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in McLean County, above the 264 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Owensboro metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Oct. 18, 2021.

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