Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Roanoke, VA 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 Roanoke metropolitan area, located in Virginia, a total of 68,637 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 21,908 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 Roanoke is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Roanoke metro area comprises six counties or county equivalents — and of them, Franklin County in Virginia has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 10,945 confirmed infections in Franklin County, or 19,464 for every 100,000 people.

Though Franklin County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Roanoke metro area, its per capita fatality rate is closely in line with the regional average.

There have been a total of 352 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Franklin County, compared to 342 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Roanoke metro area.

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

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