After adding over 934,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 42.1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 670,000 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 45.1 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 49.5 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.

The Baton Rouge, LA, metro area consists of East Baton Rouge Parish, Livingston Parish, Ascension Parish, and seven other parishes. In the past week, there were an average of 35.3 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Baton Rouge 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 37.5 daily new cases per 100,000 Baton Rouge residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring parishes. Within the Baton Rouge metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Livingston Parish. There were an average of 46.4 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Livingston Parish during the past week, the most of the 10 parishes in Baton Rouge with available data.

Case growth in the Baton Rouge metro area varies widely at the parish level. In St. Helena Parish, for example, there were an average of 5.0 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any parish in Baton Rouge and far more than the case growth rate in Livingston Parish.

While Livingston Parish is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Baton Rouge area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of September 23, there were a total of 17,083.7 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Livingston Parish, the fourth most of the 10 parishes in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 12,985.5 cases per 100,000 Americans nationwide.

In order to slow the spread of COVID-19, city and parish governments have ordered the closure of thousands of consumer-facing businesses. These measures have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Livingston Parish, unemployment peaked at 13.0% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the parish’s unemployment rate was 5.1%.

To determine the parish 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 parishes according to the average number of new daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the seven days ending September 23. To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data up from the parish 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 parishes in Louisiana 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 September. 23	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending September. 16	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Livingston Parish	138,928	46.4	46.8	17,083.7	248.3
2	Ascension Parish	123,114	43.2	43.4	17,179.2	183.6
3	Assumption Parish	22,478	41.1	44.3	15,664.2	244.7
4	Pointe Coupee Parish	22,016	39.5	43.3	16,892.3	367.9
5	East Baton Rouge Parish	443,763	32.6	35.6	13,943.0	248.1
6	East Feliciana Parish	19,371	29.8	24.4	22,683.4	722.7
7	Iberville Parish	32,822	25.4	34.0	17,302.4	368.7
8	West Baton Rouge Parish	26,101	20.7	27.0	16,409.3	272.0
9	West Feliciana Parish	15,428	7.5	4.9	9,281.8	252.8
10	St. Helena Parish	10,297	5.0	7.5	12,149.2	145.7

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