Special Report

This Is the County in the Richmond, VA Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: November 24, 2021 4:45 am

Despite the ongoing vaccination effort, new daily cases of COVID-19 are beginning to rise once again in parts of the United States. To date, 47,257,270 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 765,010 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 Richmond metropolitan area, located in Virginia, a total of 150,390 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 11,735 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 14,444 cases per 100,000 people.

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

The broader Richmond metro area comprises 17 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Goochland County in Virginia has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 2,094 infections in Goochland County, or 9,314 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Goochland County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Richmond 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 Goochland County, below the 193 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Richmond metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Nov. 22, 2021.

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