Covid-19 infection rates fell last week in both rural and urban America, while death rates climbed slightly.
Infections
Rural America had a 15% decline in infection rates after a 3.7% increase two weeks ago. Rural counties reported 89,689 new cases, dropping the rate from 228.0 two weeks ago to 194.7 new infections per 100,000 residents last week.
New infections in metropolitan counties fell for the fifth consecutive week, declining by about 14% compared to two weeks ago.
Because the CDC does not report the number of infections detected through home testing, the actual infection rate is likely much higher.
Deaths
The rural death rate was 37% higher than the metropolitan death rate last week.
Rural counties reported 632 Covid-related deaths last week, an increase of about 3% compared to two weeks ago. Deaths in metropolitan counties also climbed by about 3% last week, to 2,823 deaths.
Cumulatively, the rural death rate remained about a third higher than the metropolitan death rate.
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