Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area with the Most Deaths from COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: September 19, 2021 3:15 am

The ongoing spread of the delta variant is claiming lives and threatening a return to normalcy in the United States. So far, 659,336 Americans have died from the virus — more than the total number of Americans killed in World War I and World War II combined.

In the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area, located in Washington, a total of 3,229 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 85 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 202 deaths have been attributed to the virus per 100,000 people.

Though deaths attributable to the virus are less common across the metro area than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area have more deaths per capita than others.

The broader Seattle metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Pierce County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Pierce County stands at 87 for every 100,000 people.

Though it has the highest per capita death rate in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area, Pierce County ranks among the bottom 25% of all U.S. counties or county equivalents by COVID-19 death rate per capita.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Sept. 16, 2021.

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