Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Fort Smith, AR-OK Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: January 19, 2022 2:45 am

As the omicron variant spreads, new daily cases of COVID-19 have hit new highs in the United States. To date, 62,973,416 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 839,043 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 Fort Smith metropolitan area, which covers parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma, a total of 55,654 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 19,792 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — in line with the national rate of 19,248 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are closely in line with the national per capita infection rate in Fort Smith, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Fort Smith metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Le Flore County in Oklahoma has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 9,177 infections in Le Flore County, or 18,387 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Le Flore County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Fort Smith metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 192 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Le Flore County, below the 287 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Fort Smith metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Jan. 14, 2022.

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