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 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 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 Bowling Green, KY, metro area consists of Warren County, Allen County, Butler County, and one other county. In the past week, there were an average of 22.2 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Bowling Green residents, less 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 were an average of 13.3 daily new cases per 100,000 Bowling Green residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Bowling Green metro area, COVID-19 is growing the slowest in Butler County. There were an average of 7.8 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Butler County during the past week, the least of the four counties in Bowling Green with available data.

Case growth in the Bowling Green metro area varies widely at the county level. In Warren County, for example, there were an average of 25.3 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the most of any county in Bowling Green and far more than the case growth rate in Butler County.

While Butler County has the slowest case growth in the Bowling Green area, it does not have the lowest incidence of cases overall. As of June 9, there were a total of 30,437.2 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Butler County, the second fewest of the four 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. These changes have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Butler County, unemployment peaked at 18.2% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 5.5%.

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 June 9. 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 Kentucky 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	Butler County	12,764	7.8	1.1	30,437.2	430.9
2	Allen County	20,944	13.0	15.7	31,823.0	515.7
3	Edmonson County	12,138	20.0	9.4	21,321.5	403.7
4	Warren County	128,652	25.3	14.5	33,884.4	294.6

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