These Are the Counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Following a months long surge driven by the delta variant, new daily cases of COVID-19 are falling once again in the United States. To date, 44,501,723 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 716,720 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 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area, located in Washington, a total of 308,081 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 8,087 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 13,602 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Seattle metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, King County in Washington has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 157,910 infections in King County, or 7,300 for every 100,000 people.

Though King County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Seattle metro area, its per capita fatality rate is closely in line with the regional average.

There have been a total of 89 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in King County, compared to 92 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Oct. 18, 2021.

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