After adding over 700,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 48.9 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 780,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country.

New cases continue to rise at a faster rate. In the past week, there were an average of 1,508.3 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — an increase from the week prior, when there were an average of 0.8 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 different neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.

The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA, metro area consists of Fulton County, Gwinnett County, DeKalb County, and 26 other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 0.3 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Atlanta 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 were an average of 0.3 daily new cases per 100,000 Atlanta residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta metro area, COVID-19 is growing the slowest in Fayette County. There were an average of 1,202.6 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Fayette County during the past week, the least of the 29 counties in Atlanta with available data.

Case growth in the Atlanta metro area varies at the county level. In Bartow County, for example, there were an average of 2,058.9 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the most of any county in Atlanta and more than the case growth rate in Fayette County.

Just as Fayette County has the slowest case growth in the Atlanta area, it also has the lowest incidence of cases overall. As of December 9, there were a total of 12,106.5 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Fayette County, the fewest of the 29 counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 15,085.6 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 Fayette County, unemployment peaked at 10.3% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 3.3%.

To determine the county in every metropolitan area where COVID-19 is growing the slowest, 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 December 9. 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 not seasonally adjusted.

These are all the counties in Georgia 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 December 9	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending December 2	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Fayette County	112,303	1,202.6	0.3	12,106.5	219.1
2	Heard County	11,736	1,203.1	0.2	12,755.6	357.9
3	Rockdale County	89,717	1,297.2	0.7	13,103.4	276.4
4	DeKalb County	749,323	1,305.4	0.3	12,530.5	184.6
5	Haralson County	29,227	1,353.3	2.0	13,183.0	444.8
6	Fulton County	1,036,200	1,387.5	0.3	13,070.1	177.7
7	Clayton County	283,538	1,425.3	0.2	14,236.9	273.7
8	Meriwether County	21,106	1,451.7	0.0	14,379.8	568.6
9	Carroll County	117,183	1,463.6	0.5	14,264.0	303.8
10	Coweta County	143,260	1,482.3	0.1	14,946.3	271.5
11	Forsyth County	228,383	1,487.6	0.2	15,375.9	127.4
12	Spalding County	65,306	1,511.2	0.7	16,289.5	502.3
13	Jasper County	13,916	1,523.6	0.0	15,722.9	424.0
14	Newton County	108,079	1,538.6	0.2	15,476.6	339.6
15	Cobb County	751,218	1,549.9	0.2	14,996.3	190.9
16	Paulding County	159,825	1,581.5	0.4	16,187.1	217.7
17	Douglas County	143,316	1,601.1	0.7	15,907.5	214.9
18	Gwinnett County	915,046	1,618.1	0.2	14,973.0	167.3
19	Henry County	225,356	1,707.8	0.3	17,385.8	231.2
20	Pickens County	31,387	1,710.8	0.0	18,185.9	388.7
21	Walton County	91,442	1,723.8	0.5	16,857.7	386.0
22	Morgan County	18,507	1,724.2	0.0	17,868.9	264.8
23	Lamar County	18,672	1,746.0	1.3	18,669.7	530.2
24	Cherokee County	247,515	1,850.8	0.1	18,076.9	194.7
25	Barrow County	78,991	1,923.5	0.2	19,154.1	254.5
26	Dawson County	24,536	1,932.7	0.1	19,465.3	313.8
27	Pike County	18,327	1,947.6	0.0	21,220.1	387.4
28	Butts County	24,090	1,950.3	0.4	19,871.3	510.6
29	Bartow County	104,919	2,058.9	0.2	19,982.1	346.9

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