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 different 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 Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC, metro area consists of Catawba County, Burke County, Caldwell County, and one other county. In the past week, there were an average of 15.2 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Hickory residents, less than the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 10.6 daily new cases per 100,000 Hickory residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metro area, COVID-19 is growing the slowest in Alexander County. There were an average of 5.4 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Alexander County during the past week, the least of the four counties in Hickory with available data.

Case growth in the Hickory metro area varies widely at the county level. In Burke County, for example, there were an average of 24.6 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the most of any county in Hickory and far more than the case growth rate in Alexander County.

While Alexander County has the slowest case growth in the Hickory area, it does not have the lowest incidence of cases overall. As of May 19, there were a total of 28,159.5 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Alexander County, the second fewest of the four 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. These changes have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Alexander County, unemployment peaked at 20.1% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 4.3%.

To determine the county in every metropolitan area where COVID-19 is growing the slowest, 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 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 North Carolina 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	Alexander County	37,213	5.4	12.7	28,159.5	373.5
2	Caldwell County	81,884	9.8	11.0	27,369.2	376.1
3	Catawba County	157,613	15.0	8.9	30,428.3	380.7
4	Burke County	89,968	24.6	12.5	28,231.1	363.5

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