After adding over 965,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 77.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 910,000 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 60.3 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — a decrease from the week prior, when there were an average of 99.0 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 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL, metro area consists of Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County. In the past week, there were an average of 93.6 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Miami residents, greater than the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is an increase from the week prior, when there was an average of 73.8 daily new cases per 100,000 Miami residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Miami-Dade County. There were an average of 122.2 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Miami-Dade County during the past week, the most of the three counties in Miami with available data.

Case growth in the Miami metro area varies at the county level. In Palm Beach County, for example, there were an average of 63.4 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Miami and more than the case growth rate in Miami-Dade County.

Just as Miami-Dade County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Miami area, it also has the highest incidence of cases overall. As of February 17, there were a total of 43,298.3 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Miami-Dade County, the most of the three counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 23,841.6 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 Miami-Dade County, unemployment peaked at 14.5% in July 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 7.1%.

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 17. 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 Florida 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 17	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending February 10	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Miami-Dade County	2,699,428	122.2	89.0	43,298.3	376.1
2	Broward County	1,926,205	76.6	62.7	30,857.8	283.8
3	Palm Beach County	1,465,027	63.4	60.5	24,715.5	323.6

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