This Is the County in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metro Area with the Most Deaths from COVID-19

Despite the ongoing vaccination effort, new daily cases of COVID-19 are beginning to rise once again in parts of the United States. Still, the virus continues to claim lives. So far, 757,821 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 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metropolitan area, which covers parts of Virginia and North Carolina, a total of 2,768 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 161 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 232 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 Virginia Beach metro area comprises 16 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Mathews County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Mathews County stands at 273 for every 100,000 people.

Though it has the highest per capita death rate in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metro area, Mathews County ranks among the middle 50% 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 Nov. 17, 2021.

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