After adding over 148,000 new cases on Apr. 12, the U.S. now has more than 30.8 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 550,000 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 20.7 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 19.5 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.

In the 50 largest metro areas, the incidence of coronavirus grew at an average rate of 22.9 new cases a day per 100,000 residents in the past week — 14.3% greater than the case growth in all counties outside of metro areas.

The Columbus, OH, metro area consists of Franklin County, Delaware County, Licking County, and seven other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 18.8 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Columbus residents, in line with 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 17.6 daily new cases per 100,000 Columbus residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Columbus metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Fairfield County. There were an average of 19.8 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Fairfield County during the past week, the most of the 10 counties in Columbus with available data.

Case growth in the Columbus metro area varies at the county level. In Perry County, for example, there were an average of 10.1 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Columbus and more than the case growth rate in Fairfield County.

While Fairfield County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Columbus area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of Apr. 12, there were a total of 10,030.6 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Fairfield County, the second most of the 10 counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 9,498.2 cases per 100,000 Americans nationwide.

In order to slow the spread of COVID-19, city and county governments have ordered the closure of thousands of consumer-facing businesses. These measures have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Fairfield County, unemployment peaked at 14.0% in April 2020. As of January 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 5.0%.

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 Apr. 12. 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 Ohio 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 Apr. 12	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending Apr. 5	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Fairfield County	154,457	19.8	15.6	10,030.6	126.2
2	Franklin County	1,290,360	19.7	18.5	9,326.5	104.2
3	Delaware County	201,135	19.6	19.6	8,841.3	64.6
4	Pickaway County	57,762	17.6	13.2	14,521.7	207.7
5	Licking County	173,750	16.5	16.4	9,191.4	118.0
6	Union County	56,707	16.1	19.8	9,713.1	82.9
7	Madison County	44,135	15.9	10.7	9,427.9	129.1
8	Morrow County	35,043	11.9	7.7	7,779.0	111.3
9	Hocking County	28,390	10.3	13.9	7,291.3	200.8
10	Perry County	36,022	10.1	13.3	7,950.7	136.0

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.