After adding over 710,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 84.1 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 steady rate. In the past week, there were an average of 33.2 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 30.0 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 39.4 new cases a day per 100,000 residents in the past week — 25.3% greater than the case growth in all counties outside of metro areas.

The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA, metro area consists of Fulton County, Gwinnett County, DeKalb County, and 26 other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 24.6 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Atlanta 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 was an average of 24.6 daily new cases per 100,000 Atlanta residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Fulton County. There were an average of 32.5 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Fulton County during the past week, the most of the 29 counties in Atlanta with available data.

Case growth in the Atlanta metro area varies widely at the county level. In Heard County, for example, there were an average of 2.4 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Atlanta and far more than the case growth rate in Fulton County.

While Fulton County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Atlanta area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of June 9, there were a total of 22,028.8 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Fulton County, the 22nd most of the 29 counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 25,908.9 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 Fulton County, unemployment peaked at 13.8% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 5.3%.

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 June 9. 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 Georgia 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 June 9	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending June 2	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Fulton County	1,036,200	32.5	30.6	22,028.8	227.4
2	DeKalb County	749,323	28.9	32.8	20,924.0	234.1
3	Cobb County	751,218	27.7	27.6	24,010.7	244.5
4	Cherokee County	247,515	27.2	20.5	26,109.1	256.6
5	Fayette County	112,303	26.6	29.0	20,839.2	287.6
6	Douglas County	143,316	25.4	22.0	24,923.2	284.0
7	Forsyth County	228,383	24.8	27.6	24,638.4	177.3
8	Henry County	225,356	23.6	23.3	26,299.3	305.7
9	Newton County	108,079	22.7	16.9	23,300.5	422.8
10	Rockdale County	89,717	22.5	24.0	21,264.6	361.1
11	Gwinnett County	915,046	21.2	23.4	23,408.9	206.8
12	Coweta County	143,260	21.2	19.6	23,622.1	342.7
13	Clayton County	283,538	19.5	20.2	23,133.4	345.3
14	Dawson County	24,536	18.0	22.7	28,452.1	411.6
15	Walton County	91,442	18.0	11.9	24,182.5	475.7
16	Pickens County	31,387	15.9	11.4	26,829.6	541.6
17	Barrow County	78,991	15.6	12.5	28,081.7	326.6
18	Bartow County	104,919	14.8	14.8	28,319.9	427.0
19	Butts County	24,090	14.8	9.5	27,401.4	660.0
20	Paulding County	159,825	14.7	14.7	24,281.6	272.2
21	Jasper County	13,916	14.4	16.4	22,908.9	524.6
22	Spalding County	65,306	12.5	13.8	24,662.4	644.7
23	Meriwether County	21,106	11.5	10.2	21,377.8	687.0
24	Pike County	18,327	10.1	10.9	29,988.5	534.7
25	Carroll County	117,183	9.5	7.7	20,452.6	394.3
26	Haralson County	29,227	9.3	3.4	18,630.0	598.8
27	Lamar County	18,672	9.2	12.2	26,221.1	605.2
28	Morgan County	18,507	6.9	13.1	24,882.5	378.2
29	Heard County	11,736	2.4	4.9	18,583.8	460.1

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