After adding over 80,000 new cases on Apr. 15, the U.S. now has more than 31.0 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 550,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country.

New cases continue to rise at a steady rate. In the past week, there were an average of 21.4 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 18.8 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 different neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.

In the 50 largest metro areas, the incidence of coronavirus grew at an average rate of 23.6 new cases a day per 100,000 residents in the past week — 13.9% greater than the case growth in all counties outside of metro areas.

The Tuscaloosa, AL, metro area consists of Tuscaloosa County, Pickens County, Hale County, and one other county. In the past week, there were an average of 8.4 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Tuscaloosa residents, less than the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 9.5 daily new cases per 100,000 Tuscaloosa residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Tuscaloosa metro area, COVID-19 is growing the slowest in Pickens County. There were an average of 1.6 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Pickens County during the past week, the least of the four counties in Tuscaloosa with available data.

Case growth in the Tuscaloosa metro area varies widely at the county level. In Hale County, for example, there were an average of 17.2 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the most of any county in Tuscaloosa and far more than the case growth rate in Pickens County.

While Pickens County has the slowest case growth in the Tuscaloosa area, it does not have the lowest incidence of cases overall. As of Apr. 15, there were a total of 11,510.2 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Pickens County, the second fewest of the four counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 9,556.5 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 Pickens County, unemployment peaked at 14.1% in April 2020. As of January 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 4.6%.

To determine the county in every metropolitan area where COVID-19 is growing the slowest, 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 Apr. 15. To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data 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 Alabama 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 Apr. 15	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending Apr. 8	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Pickens County	20,243	1.6	3.7	11,510.2	291.5
2	Greene County	8,324	4.2	4.7	10,932.2	408.5
3	Tuscaloosa County	207,305	8.6	10.2	12,202.8	213.7
4	Hale County	14,809	17.2	10.6	14,768.0	506.4

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