After adding over 637,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 44.3 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 710,000 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 28.1 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — a decrease from the week prior, when there were an average of 33.4 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.

The Sioux Falls, SD, metro area consists of Minnehaha County, Lincoln County, Turner County, and one other county. In the past week, there were an average of 33.7 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Sioux Falls residents, greater than 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 44.0 daily new cases per 100,000 Sioux Falls residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Sioux Falls metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Minnehaha County. There were an average of 36.0 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Minnehaha County during the past week, the most of the four counties in Sioux Falls with available data.

Case growth in the Sioux Falls metro area varies widely at the county level. In Turner County, for example, there were an average of 11.1 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Sioux Falls and far more than the case growth rate in Minnehaha County.

Just as Minnehaha County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Sioux Falls area, it also has the highest incidence of cases overall. As of October 14, there were a total of 19,288.8 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Minnehaha County, the most of the four counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 13,646.9 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 Minnehaha County, unemployment peaked at 11.1% in April 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 3.0%.

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 October 14. 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 2019 American Community Survey and are five-year estimates. Unemployment data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is not seasonally adjusted.

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

Rank in MSA	County	Population	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending October 14	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending October 7	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Minnehaha County	188,674	36.0	45.2	19,288.8	203.0
2	Lincoln County	56,826	31.1	45.6	17,576.5	137.3
3	McCook County	5,548	16.2	28.0	16,005.8	450.6
4	Turner County	8,300	11.1	16.2	15,686.7	722.9

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