Special Report

This Is the County in the Raleigh, NC Metro Area with the Most Deaths from COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: October 22, 2021 3:00 am

Following a months long surge driven by the delta variant, new daily cases of COVID-19 are falling once again in the United States. Still, the virus continues to claim lives. So far, 719,694 Americans have died from the virus — more than the total number of Americans killed in World War I and World War II combined.

In the Raleigh metropolitan area, located in North Carolina, a total of 1,251 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 96 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 220 deaths have been attributed to the virus per 100,000 people.

Though deaths attributable to the virus are less common across the metro area than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area have more deaths per capita than others.

The broader Raleigh metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Johnston County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Johnston County stands at 165 for every 100,000 people.

Though it has the highest per capita death rate in the Raleigh metro area, Johnston County ranks among the middle 50% of all U.S. counties or county equivalents by COVID-19 death rate per capita.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Oct. 20, 2021.

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