After adding over 295,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 78.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 950,000 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 15.4 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — a decrease from the week prior, when there were an average of 22.6 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 San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX, metro area consists of Bexar County, Guadalupe County, Comal County, and five other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 21.8 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 San Antonio residents, greater 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 were an average of 29.8 daily new cases per 100,000 San Antonio residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the San Antonio-New Braunfels metro area, COVID-19 is growing the slowest in Bandera County. There were an average of 13.8 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Bandera County during the past week, the least of the eight counties in San Antonio with available data.

Case growth in the San Antonio metro area varies at the county level. In Atascosa County, for example, there were an average of 35.7 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the most of any county in San Antonio and more than the case growth rate in Bandera County.

Just as Bandera County has the slowest case growth in the San Antonio area, it also has the lowest incidence of cases overall. As of March 10, there were a total of 15,939.7 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Bandera County, the fewest of the eight counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 24,221.8 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. These changes have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Bandera County, unemployment peaked at 9.5% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 5.5%.

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 March 10. 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 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 March 10	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending March 3	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Bandera County	22,215	13.8	11.5	15,939.7	333.1
2	Wilson County	49,173	17.8	17.1	21,766.0	315.2
3	Bexar County	1,952,843	20.4	29.6	28,014.7	305.1
4	Kendall County	43,769	21.5	22.0	18,362.3	265.0
5	Guadalupe County	158,966	22.2	29.8	23,301.8	245.3
6	Comal County	141,642	33.9	35.8	22,864.0	377.7
7	Medina County	50,057	34.2	45.5	20,001.2	387.6
8	Atascosa County	49,528	35.7	35.3	26,883.8	462.4

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