These Are the Counties in the Knoxville, TN Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Despite the ongoing vaccination effort, new daily cases of COVID-19 are beginning to rise once again in parts of the United States. To date, 47,702,004 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 770,162 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 Knoxville metropolitan area, located in Tennessee, a total of 157,090 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 18,088 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 14,580 cases per 100,000 people.

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

The broader Knoxville metro area comprises nine counties or county equivalents — and of them, Union County in Tennessee has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 3,383 infections in Union County, or 17,535 for every 100,000 people.

Though Union County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Knoxville metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 259 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Union County, above the 227 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Knoxville metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Nov. 26, 2021.

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