Special Report

This Is the County in the St. Joseph, MO-KS Metro Area with the Most Deaths from COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: December 3, 2021 3:15 am

Despite the ongoing vaccination effort, new daily cases of COVID-19 are beginning to rise once again in parts of the United States and the virus continues to claim lives. So far, 774,868 Americans have died from the virus — more than the total number of Americans killed in World War I and World War II combined.

In the St. Joseph metropolitan area, which covers parts of Missouri and Kansas, a total of 273 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 215 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 237 deaths have been attributed to the virus per 100,000 people.

Though deaths attributable to the virus are less common across the metro area than they are nationwide, this is not the case in some parts of the city.

The broader St. Joseph metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Doniphan County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Doniphan County stands at 375 for every 100,000 people.

With the highest per capita death rate in the St. Joseph metro area, Doniphan County ranks among the top 25% of all U.S. counties or county equivalents by COVID-19 death rate per capita.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Dec. 1, 2021.

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