Special Report

This is the County in the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: September 15, 2021 5:15 am

With the ongoing surge of the delta variant, COVID-19 continues to spread through the United States. To date, 40,508,857 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 651,204 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 Huntington-Ashland metropolitan area, which covers parts of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio, a total of 43,560 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 12,160 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — in line with the national rate of 12,382 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are closely in line with the national per capita infection rate in Huntington-Ashland, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Huntington metro area comprises seven counties or county equivalents — and of them, Lincoln County in West Virginia has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 2,011 infections in Lincoln County, or 9,541 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Lincoln County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Huntington metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 138 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Lincoln County, below the 179 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Huntington-Ashland metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Sept. 13, 2021.

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