After adding over 455,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 44.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 710,000 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 27.7 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 28.5 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 New Orleans-Metairie, LA, metro area consists of Jefferson Parish, Orleans Parish, St. Tammany Parish, and five other parishes. In the past week, there were an average of 10.6 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 New Orleans 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 12.2 daily new cases per 100,000 New Orleans residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring parishes. Within the New Orleans-Metairie metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in St. Bernard Parish. There were an average of 15.6 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in St. Bernard Parish during the past week, the most of the eight parishes in New Orleans with available data.

Case growth in the New Orleans metro area varies at the parish level. In Jefferson Parish, for example, there were an average of 8.4 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any parish in New Orleans and more than the case growth rate in St. Bernard Parish.

While St. Bernard Parish is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the New Orleans area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of October 20, there were a total of 14,810.0 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in St. Bernard Parish, the sixth most of the eight parishes in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 13,751.2 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 St. Bernard Parish, unemployment peaked at 19.7% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the parish’s unemployment rate was 9.7%.

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 October 20. 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 October 20	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending October 13	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	St. Bernard Parish	46,266	15.6	12.4	14,810.0	209.7
2	St. Tammany Parish	255,155	14.4	18.1	16,946.6	278.3
3	St. James Parish	21,308	13.9	16.8	16,153.6	328.5
4	St. Charles Parish	52,773	13.3	10.6	16,696.0	235.0
5	St. John the Baptist Parish	43,242	10.8	10.1	14,499.8	388.5
6	Plaquemines Parish	23,338	10.1	13.8	16,295.3	162.8
7	Orleans Parish	390,845	9.5	9.2	11,873.8	252.0
8	Jefferson Parish	434,850	8.4	11.4	15,895.6	264.5

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