Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: January 26, 2022 4:45 am

As the omicron variant spreads, new daily cases of COVID-19 have hit new highs in the United States. To date, 68,964,506 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 854,925 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 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metropolitan area, which covers parts of Virginia and North Carolina, a total of 297,518 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 17,277 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 21,079 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Virginia Beach metro area comprises 16 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Williamsburg, an independent city in Virginia has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,482 infections in Williamsburg, or 10,022 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Williamsburg City have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Virginia Beach metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 88 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Williamsburg, below the 171 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Jan. 24, 2022.

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