As the delta variant continues to surge, COVID-19 continues to spread through the population. To date, there have been 41,395,400 reported cases of the virus nationwide — and that number is growing every day.
In the Des Moines-West Des Moines metropolitan area, located in Iowa, a total of 90,265 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 14,233 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 12,653 cases per 100,000 people.
The higher than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Des Moines-West Des Moines is being driven by a high concentration of the virus in one area in particular.
The broader Des Moines metro area comprises five counties or county equivalents, which can include independent cities — and of them, Dallas County has the most COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 12,746 infections in Dallas County, or 15,173 for every 100,000 people.
A relatively high infection rate does not necessarily mean COVID-19 related fatalities per capita are higher in Dallas County than they are across all of the Des Moines area, however. There have been a total of 121 coronavirus deaths for every 100,000 people in Dallas County, compared to 145 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Des Moines-West Des Moines metro area.
All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Sept. 17, 2021.
These are all the counties in Iowa where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).
| Rank | Geography | COVID cases per 100,000 people | Total cases | Deaths per 100,000 people | Total deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dallas County, IA | 15,173 | 12,746 | 121 | 102 |
| 2 | Polk County, IA | 14,199 | 67,341 | 142 | 672 |
| 3 | Warren County, IA | 13,896 | 6,859 | 188 | 93 |
| 4 | Guthrie County, IA | 12,938 | 1,381 | 300 | 32 |
| 5 | Madison County, IA | 12,196 | 1,938 | 126 | 20 |
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