Special Report

This Is the County in the Columbia, SC Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: May 11, 2022 4:45 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, 80,931,088 Americans are confirmed to 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 Columbia metropolitan area, located in South Carolina, a total of 253,532 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 31,045 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 24,737 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Columbia than they are nationwide, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Columbia metro area comprises six counties or county equivalents — and of them, Calhoun County in South Carolina has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 2,796 confirmed infections in Calhoun County, or 19,004 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 415 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Calhoun County, above the 284 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Columbia metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of May 9, 2022.

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