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 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI, metro area consists of Hennepin County, Ramsey County, Dakota County, and 12 other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 41.6 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Minneapolis 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 33.5 daily new cases per 100,000 Minneapolis residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in St. Croix County, Wisconsin. There were an average of 57.2 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in St. Croix County during the past week, the most of the 15 counties in Minneapolis with available data.

Case growth in the Minneapolis metro area varies widely at the county level. In Le Sueur County, for example, there were an average of 17.8 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Minneapolis and far more than the case growth rate in St. Croix County.

While St. Croix County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Minneapolis area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of May 19, there were a total of 29,052.7 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in St. Croix County, the second most of the 15 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 St. Croix County, unemployment peaked at 16.1% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 3.8%.

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 Minnesota 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	St. Croix County	88,732	57.2	35.4	29,052.7	167.9
2	Hennepin County	1,245,837	49.5	41.7	25,284.8	208.3
3	Washington County	255,938	43.5	34.4	27,181.2	188.7
4	Ramsey County	544,442	41.5	32.7	23,836.1	248.0
5	Dakota County	421,453	40.9	31.1	27,100.3	184.4
6	Pierce County	41,977	40.5	28.7	28,384.6	173.9
7	Carver County	101,949	37.0	32.4	27,079.2	114.8
8	Scott County	145,275	34.7	30.8	28,519.7	179.7
9	Anoka County	350,253	32.0	26.8	28,883.7	227.8
10	Chisago County	55,315	29.4	24.0	26,942.1	216.9
11	Mille Lacs County	25,865	28.4	18.4	28,532.8	440.8
12	Isanti County	39,430	27.4	14.5	26,132.4	296.7
13	Wright County	134,438	24.3	17.8	27,745.1	226.9
14	Sherburne County	94,463	22.7	15.6	29,369.2	191.6
15	Le Sueur County	28,242	17.8	15.4	23,376.5	180.6

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