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 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, metro area consists of Kings County, Queens County, New York County, and 20 other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 47.7 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 New York residents, greater than the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is a decrease from the week prior, when there was an average of 55.6 daily new cases per 100,000 New York residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Sussex County, New Jersey. There were an average of 74.9 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Sussex County during the past week, the most of the 23 counties in New York with available data.

Case growth in the New York metro area varies at the county level. In New York County, for example, there were an average of 35.8 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in New York and more than the case growth rate in Sussex County.

While Sussex County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the New York area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of Apr. 12, there were a total of 8,839.9 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Sussex County, the 19th most of the 23 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 Sussex County, unemployment peaked at 17.1% in April 2020. As of January 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 7.6%.

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 New York 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	Sussex County	141,483	74.9	77.9	8,839.9	203.6
2	Richmond County	474,893	65.8	78.3	14,506.8	364.1
3	Essex County	795,404	57.2	58.2	11,245.5	354.4
4	Passaic County	503,637	57.0	59.2	13,336.4	361.2
5	Ocean County	596,415	54.8	59.2	11,992.2	341.0
6	Hudson County	670,046	54.0	57.8	12,419.9	321.6
7	Monmouth County	621,659	51.3	61.8	11,436.5	245.0
8	Bergen County	930,390	50.7	56.4	10,301.3	296.4
9	Queens County	2,287,388	49.5	64.2	11,242.5	413.9
10	Hunterdon County	124,823	49.3	49.6	7,133.3	137.0
11	Suffolk County	1,483,832	48.8	49.1	12,765.9	222.0
12	Union County	554,033	48.6	50.5	12,061.7	339.1
13	Putnam County	98,787	48.4	48.5	10,091.4	92.1
14	Middlesex County	825,920	47.6	49.7	10,571.2	270.2
15	Morris County	493,379	47.2	48.8	9,534.3	241.2
16	Nassau County	1,356,509	47.1	47.4	12,810.2	227.6
17	Bronx County	1,435,068	46.2	58.8	11,941.4	441.4
18	Rockland County	324,422	44.2	50.9	13,856.0	287.0
19	Kings County	2,589,974	43.2	56.4	9,941.7	379.8
20	Westchester County	968,890	41.1	46.0	12,751.5	230.0
21	Somerset County	329,838	40.0	46.0	8,491.1	245.6
22	Pike County	55,453	39.2	45.3	6,088.0	93.8
23	New York County	1,631,993	35.8	52.3	7,905.2	262.0

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