After adding over 702,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 81.9 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 990,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country.

New cases continue to rise at a faster rate. In the past week, there were an average of 26.7 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — an increase from the week prior, when there were an average of 20.3 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people.

While COVID-19 has spread to nearly every part of the country, cities continue to be the sites of major outbreaks. Experts agree that the virus is more likely to spread in group settings where large numbers of people routinely have close contact with one another, such as colleges, nursing homes, bars, and restaurants. Metropolitan areas with a high degree of connectivity between neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.

In the 50 largest metro areas, the incidence of coronavirus grew at an average rate of 28.9 new cases a day per 100,000 residents in the past week — 15.1% greater than the case growth in all counties outside of metro areas.

The Scranton–Wilkes-Barre, PA, metro area consists of Luzerne County, Lackawanna County, and Wyoming County. In the past week, there were an average of 37.3 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Scranton residents, greater than the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is an increase from the week prior, when there was an average of 17.5 daily new cases per 100,000 Scranton residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Lackawanna County. There were an average of 40.9 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Lackawanna County during the past week, the most of the three counties in Scranton with available data.

Case growth in the Scranton metro area varies at the county level. In Wyoming County, for example, there were an average of 25.6 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Scranton and more than the case growth rate in Lackawanna County.

While Lackawanna County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Scranton area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of May 19, there were a total of 21,427.3 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Lackawanna County, the second most of the three counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 25,247.6 cases per 100,000 Americans nationwide.

The pandemic has led to the closure of thousands of consumer-facing businesses around the country. These changes have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Lackawanna County, unemployment peaked at 17.2% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 6.8%.

To determine the county in every metropolitan area where COVID-19 is growing the fastest, 24/7 Wall St. compiled and reviewed data from state and local health departments. We ranked counties according to the average number of new daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the seven days ending May 19. To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data up from the county level using boundary definitions from the U.S. Census Bureau. Population data used to adjust case and death totals came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey and are five-year estimates. Unemployment data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is not seasonally adjusted.

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

Rank in MSA	County	Population	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending May 19	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending May 12	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Lackawanna County	210,652	40.9	18.8	21,427.3	368.4
2	Luzerne County	317,663	35.9	16.5	23,729.2	430.0
3	Wyoming County	27,327	25.6	19.6	19,237.4	387.9

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