After adding over 59,000 new cases on Feb. 22, the U.S. now has more than 27,700,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 480,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country.
New cases continue to rise, albeit at a slowing rate. In the past week, there were an average of 21.2 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — a decrease from the week prior, when there were an average of 29.4 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people.
While COVID-19 has spread to nearly every part of the country, cities continue to be the sites of major outbreaks. Experts agree that the virus is more likely to spread in group settings where large numbers of people routinely have close contact with one another, such as colleges, nursing homes, bars, and restaurants. Metropolitan areas with a high degree of connectivity between neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.
In the 50 largest metro areas, the incidence of coronavirus grew at an average rate of 22.7 new cases a day per 100,000 residents in the past week — 9.0% greater than the case growth in all counties outside of metro areas.
The Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA, metro area consists of Douglas County, Sarpy County, Pottawattamie County, and five other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 17.1 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Omaha residents, in line with the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is a decrease from the week prior, when there was an average of 23.4 daily new cases per 100,000 Omaha residents.
The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Sarpy County. There were an average of 29.9 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Sarpy County during the past week, the most of the eight counties in Omaha with available data.
Case growth in the Omaha metro area varies at the county level. In Harrison County, for example, there were an average of 8.8 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Omaha and less than the case growth rate in Sarpy County.
While Sarpy County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Omaha area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of Feb. 22, there were a total of 10,980.0 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Sarpy County, the third most of the eight counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 8,595.4 cases per 100,000 Americans nationwide.
In order to slow the spread of COVID-19, city and county governments have ordered the closure of thousands of consumer-facing businesses. These measures have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Sarpy County, unemployment peaked at 9.1% in April 2020. As of November 2020, the county’s unemployment rate was 2.4%.
To determine the county in every metropolitan area where COVID-19 is growing the fastest, 24/7 Wall St. compiled and reviewed data from state and local health departments. We ranked counties according to the average number of new daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the seven days ending Feb. 22. To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data up from the county level using boundary definitions from the U.S. Census Bureau. Population data used to adjust case and death totals came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey and are five-year estimates. Unemployment data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is not seasonally adjusted.
| County | Population | New daily cases per 100,000, week ending Feb. 22 | New daily cases per 100,000, week ending Feb. 15 | Cumulative cases per 100,000 | Cumulative deaths per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarpy County | 178,351 | 29.9 | 37.1 | 10,980.0 | 58.9 |
| Cass County | 25,702 | 22.2 | 31.7 | 8,804.8 | 62.3 |
| Saunders County | 21,024 | 16.2 | 34.1 | 10,949.4 | 66.6 |
| Pottawattamie County | 93,503 | 15.2 | 18.9 | 10,363.3 | 149.7 |
| Douglas County | 554,992 | 13.7 | 19.3 | 11,407.7 | 110.8 |
| Mills County | 14,957 | 11.7 | 27.4 | 9,781.4 | 133.7 |
| Washington County | 20,219 | 10.4 | 17.4 | 9,891.7 | 98.9 |
| Harrison County | 14,143 | 8.8 | 16 | 11,680.7 | 480.8 |
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