Special Report

This Is the County in the Hattiesburg, MS Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: April 27, 2022 2:45 am

Since the first case of the omicron variant was detected in the U.S., new daily cases of COVID-19 have hit new highs. To date, 80,112,263 Americans have been infected with the virus — and over 980,000 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 Hattiesburg metropolitan area, located in Mississippi, a total of 42,426 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 28,518 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 24,487 cases per 100,000 people.

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

The broader Hattiesburg metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Perry County in Mississippi has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 3,041 infections in Perry County, or 25,283 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 532 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Perry County, above the 361 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Hattiesburg metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of April 25, 2022.

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