After adding over 1,660,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 76.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 900,000 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 99.0 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — a decrease from the week prior, when there were an average of 165.5 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 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, metro area consists of Harris County, Fort Bend County, Montgomery County, and six other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 70.4 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Houston residents, less than the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is a decrease from the week prior, when there was an average of 102.8 daily new cases per 100,000 Houston residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Chambers County. There were an average of 104.3 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Chambers County during the past week, the most of the nine counties in Houston with available data.

Case growth in the Houston metro area varies at the county level. In Waller County, for example, there were an average of 58.3 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Houston and more than the case growth rate in Chambers County.

While Chambers County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Houston area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of February 10, there were a total of 24,382.0 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Chambers County, the third most of the nine counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 23,544.4 cases per 100,000 Americans nationwide.

The pandemic has led to the closure of thousands of consumer-facing businesses around the country. These changes have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Chambers County, unemployment peaked at 15.0% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 10.0%.

To determine the county 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 counties according to the average number of new daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the seven days ending February 10. To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data up 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 Texas 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 February 10	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending February 3	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Chambers County	41,305	104.3	119.8	24,382.0	162.2
2	Galveston County	332,885	91.0	135.6	27,763.0	240.3
3	Austin County	29,764	90.9	115.9	17,877.3	215.0
4	Fort Bend County	765,394	88.9	113.6	22,174.9	147.2
5	Brazoria County	360,677	88.5	118.4	25,205.4	257.8
6	Montgomery County	571,949	86.0	133.4	23,119.4	214.7
7	Liberty County	83,702	74.6	92.8	20,306.6	456.4
8	Harris County	4,646,630	62.2	93.8	20,925.9	222.4
9	Waller County	51,832	58.3	81.8	17,502.7	187.1

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