After adding over 514,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 34.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 600,000 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 20.0 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — an increase from the week prior, when there were an average of 10.3 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 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO, metro area consists of Denver County, Arapahoe County, Jefferson County, and seven other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 6.3 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Denver 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 9.6 daily new cases per 100,000 Denver residents.
The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro area, COVID-19 is growing the slowest in Gilpin County. There were an average of 1.7 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Gilpin County during the past week, the least of the 10 counties in Denver with available data.
Case growth in the Denver metro area varies widely at the county level. In Clear Creek County, for example, there were an average of 10.7 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the most of any county in Denver and far more than the case growth rate in Gilpin County.
Just as Gilpin County has the slowest case growth in the Denver area, it also has the lowest incidence of cases overall. As of July 29, there were a total of 4,769.0 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Gilpin County, the fewest of the 10 counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 10,550.2 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 Gilpin County, unemployment peaked at 23.3% in April 2020. As of April 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 7.6%.
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 July 29. 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.
| Rank in MSA | County | Population | New daily cases per 100,000, week ending July 29 | New daily cases per 100,000, week ending July 22 | Cumulative cases per 100,000 | Cumulative deaths per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gilpin County | 6,018 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 4,769.0 | 49.9 |
| 2 | Elbert County | 25,717 | 3.6 | 7.4 | 7,462.0 | 54.4 |
| 3 | Broomfield County | 67,886 | 5.1 | 8.5 | 7,506.7 | 112.0 |
| 4 | Jefferson County | 574,798 | 5.3 | 8.1 | 8,642.3 | 141.1 |
| 5 | Denver County | 705,576 | 6.0 | 9.4 | 10,688.0 | 120.3 |
| 6 | Douglas County | 336,041 | 6.2 | 10.5 | 9,250.4 | 75.3 |
| 7 | Arapahoe County | 644,560 | 6.3 | 9.7 | 9,907.4 | 120.1 |
| 8 | Park County | 17,867 | 8.3 | 10.7 | 4,841.3 | 28.0 |
| 9 | Adams County | 504,108 | 8.5 | 11.2 | 12,283.9 | 144.0 |
| 10 | Clear Creek County | 9,495 | 10.7 | 5.2 | 5,181.7 | 31.6 |
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