Special Report

This Is the County in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area with the Most Deaths from COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: January 28, 2022 4:15 am

As the omicron variant spreads, new daily cases of COVID-19 have hit new highs in the United States and the virus continues to claim lives. So far, 862,863 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 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metropolitan area, which covers parts of North Carolina and South Carolina, a total of 4,881 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 197 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 264 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, this is not the case in some parts of the city.

The broader Charlotte metro area comprises 10 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Chester County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Chester County stands at 396 for every 100,000 people.

Though it has the highest per capita death rate in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metro area, Chester County ranks among the middle 50% 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 Jan. 26, 2022.

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