Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: May 18, 2022 5:30 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, 81,519,474 Americans are confirmed to have been infected with the virus — and over 1 million 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metropolitan area, which covers parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, a total of 2,225,322 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 23,335 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 24,917 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Chicago metro area comprises 14 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Newton County in Indiana has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 2,589 confirmed infections in Newton County, or 18,469 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 485 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Newton County, above the 256 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of May 16, 2022.

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