Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: December 1, 2021 4:15 am

Despite the ongoing vaccination effort, new daily cases of COVID-19 are beginning to rise once again in parts of the United States. To date, 47,702,004 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 770,162 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 Huntington-Ashland metropolitan area, which covers parts of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio, a total of 60,502 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 16,889 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 14,580 cases per 100,000 people.

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

The broader Huntington metro area comprises seven counties or county equivalents — and of them, Wayne County in West Virginia has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 5,921 infections in Wayne County, or 14,545 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Wayne County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Huntington metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 219 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Wayne County, below the 260 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Huntington-Ashland metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Nov. 26, 2021.

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