Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Springfield, MO Metro Area With the Most COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: December 7, 2021 2:15 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, there have been 48,413,300 reported cases of the virus nationwide — and that number is growing every day.

In the Springfield metropolitan area, located in Missouri, a total of 73,383 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 15,993 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 14,798 cases per 100,000 people.

The higher than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Springfield is being driven by a high concentration of the virus in one area in particular.

The broader Springfield metro area comprises five counties or county equivalents, which can include independent cities — and of them, Polk County has the most COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 5,383 infections in Polk County, or 17,062 for every 100,000 people.

A relatively high infection rate does not necessarily mean COVID-19 related fatalities per capita are higher in Polk County than they are across all of the Springfield area, however. There have been a total of 158 coronavirus deaths for every 100,000 people in Polk County, compared to 228 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Springfield metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Dec. 3, 2021.

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