This Is The County In The Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metro Area With The Least COVID-19

By Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. Charlotte

2021-06-09

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the novel coronavirus continues to spread through the United States. To date, 33,027,029 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 591,694 have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metropolitan area, located in North Carolina, a total of 43,658 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 11,950 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 10,095 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Hickory metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Burke County in North Carolina has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 10,076 infections in Burke County, or 11,231 for every 100,000 people.

Though Burke County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Hickory metro area, its per capita fatality rate is closely in line with the regional average.

There have been a total of 177 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Burke County, compared to 181 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of June 7, 2021.

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

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This story was originally published by 24/7 Wall St., a news organization that produces real-time business commentary and data-driven reporting for state and local markets across the country.