To date, 88,027,926 Americans are confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 — and over 1 million have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Athens-Clarke County metropolitan area, located in Georgia, a total of 51,260 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 24,968 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 26,906 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Athens-Clarke County is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Athens metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Oglethorpe County in Georgia has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 3,385 confirmed infections in Oglethorpe County, or 22,896 for every 100,000 people.

Though Oglethorpe County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Athens metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 392 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Oglethorpe County, above the 252 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Athens-Clarke County metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of July 17, 2022.

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

Rank	Geography	COVID cases per 100,000 people	Total cases	Deaths per 100,000 people	Total deaths
1	Oglethorpe County, GA	22,896	3,385	392	58
2	Madison County, GA	24,796	7,166	391	113
3	Oconee County, GA	25,013	9,259	289	107
4	Clarke County, GA	25,240	31,450	192	239

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