Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Augusta-Richmond Counties, GA-SC Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: May 18, 2022 5:00 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 Augusta-Richmond County metropolitan area, which covers parts of Georgia and South Carolina, a total of 147,310 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 24,787 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — in line with the national rate of 24,917 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are closely in line with the national per capita infection rate in Augusta-Richmond County, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Augusta metro area comprises seven counties or county equivalents — and of them, Lincoln County in Georgia has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,598 confirmed infections in Lincoln County, or 20,490 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 449 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Lincoln County, above the 343 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Augusta-Richmond County metro area.

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

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