Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Cape Girardeau, MO-IL Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: June 15, 2022 2:15 am

To date, 84,392,347 Americans are confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 — and over 1 million have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Cape Girardeau metropolitan area, which covers parts of Missouri and Illinois, a total of 23,135 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 23,817 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 25,795 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Cape Girardeau is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Cape Girardeau metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Alexander County in Illinois has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,320 confirmed infections in Alexander County, or 20,208 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Alexander County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Cape Girardeau metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 230 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Alexander County, below the 313 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Cape Girardeau metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of June 13, 2022.

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