COVID-19: San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA Metro Area Among the Safest in America

Photo of Steven M. Peters
By Steven M. Peters Published
COVID-19: San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA Metro Area Among the Safest in America

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The U.S. reported over 817,000 new cases of coronavirus over the seven days ending September 28, bringing the total count to more than 42.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 683,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country.

New cases continue to rise, albeit at a slowing rate. In the past week, there were an average of 39.7 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — a decrease from the week prior, when there were an average of 47.3 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people.

While new data shows that the risk of contracting COVID-19 is high in almost every part of the country, cities continue to be the sites of major outbreaks and superspreader events. 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 different neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.

The San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA metro area consists of Alameda County, Contra Costa County, San Francisco County, and two other counties. As of September 28, there were 7,129.9 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 San Francisco residents, the 15th lowest rate of all 383 metro areas with available data. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 13,207.9 cases per 100,000 Americans nationwide.

The incidence of coronavirus cases depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area, Contra Costa County has the highest incidence of COVID-19 cases. As of September 28, there were 8,433.4 cases per 100,000 residents in Contra Costa County, the most of any county in San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, and far greater than the county with the lowest incidence. In San Francisco County, there were 5,980.6 cases per 100,000 residents — the least of any county in San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley.

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 the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area, unemployment peaked at 13.3% in April 2020. As of May 2021, the metro area’s unemployment rate was 6.0%.

To determine how the incidence of COVID-19 in the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA metro area compares to the rest of the country, 24/7 Wall St. compiled and reviewed data from state and local health departments. We ranked metro areas based on the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data 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 seasonally adjusted.

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

FIPS MSA Population Confirmed COVID-19 cases as of September 28 Confirmed COVID-19 cases as of September 28 per 100,000 residents Cumulative COVID-19 deaths as of September 28 Cumulative COVID-19 deaths as of September 28 per 100,000 residents
25260 Hanford-Corcoran, CA 150,691 30,419 20,186.3 293 194.4
20940 El Centro, CA 180,701 34,462 19,071.3 755 417.8
47300 Visalia, CA 461,898 74,142 16,051.6 898 194.4
40140 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA 4,560,470 709,105 15,548.9 10,383 227.7
12540 Bakersfield, CA 887,641 136,932 15,426.5 1,532 172.6
33700 Modesto, CA 543,194 81,477 14,999.6 1,256 231.2
32900 Merced, CA 271,382 39,734 14,641.4 546 201.2
31460 Madera, CA 155,433 22,042 14,181.0 263 169.2
23420 Fresno, CA 984,521 137,387 13,954.7 1,927 195.7
31080 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA 13,249,614 1,770,393 13,361.8 31,397 237.0
44700 Stockton, CA 742,603 98,351 13,244.1 1,628 219.2
49700 Yuba City, CA 172,469 22,599 13,103.2 215 124.7
39820 Redding, CA 179,212 21,374 11,926.7 290 161.8
37100 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA 847,263 98,292 11,601.1 1,134 133.8
41500 Salinas, CA 433,410 49,733 11,474.8 567 130.8
41740 San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA 3,316,073 354,391 10,687.1 4,051 122.2
42020 San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA 282,165 28,582 10,129.5 318 112.7
46700 Vallejo, CA 441,829 44,452 10,060.9 312 70.6
42200 Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA 444,829 43,353 9,746.0 505 113.5
40900 Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA 2,315,980 224,245 9,682.5 2,874 124.1
17020 Chico, CA 225,817 21,781 9,645.4 236 104.5
34900 Napa, CA 139,623 12,352 8,846.7 95 68.0
42220 Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA 499,772 39,609 7,925.4 384 76.8
41940 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 1,987,846 148,280 7,459.3 1,914 96.3
42100 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA 273,962 20,255 7,393.4 214 78.1
41860 San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA 4,701,332 335,199 7,129.9 3,726 79.3
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