This Is the County in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

As the omicron variant spreads, new daily cases of COVID-19 have hit new highs in the United States. To date, 73,010,190 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 872,453 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metropolitan area, which covers parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, a total of 1,998,736 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 20,959 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 22,316 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Chicago metro area comprises 14 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Newton County in Indiana has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 2,415 infections in Newton County, or 17,228 for every 100,000 people.

Though Newton County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Chicago metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 435 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Newton County, above the 231 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Jan. 31, 2022.

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