This is the County in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

With slowing vaccination rates and the emergence of the delta variant, COVID-19 continues to spread through the United States. To date, 39,091,213 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 635,606 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 Providence-Warwick metropolitan area, which covers parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, a total of 219,715 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 13,600 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 11,948 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Providence-Warwick than they are nationwide, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Providence metro area comprises six counties or county equivalents — and of them, Washington County in Rhode Island has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 10,898 infections in Washington County, or 8,633 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 135 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Washington County, below the 280 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Providence-Warwick metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Sept. 2, 2021.

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