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 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metropolitan area, located in Georgia, a total of 1,441,488 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 24,942 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 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Atlanta metro area comprises 29 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Heard County in Georgia has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 2,252 confirmed infections in Heard County, or 19,286 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 480 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Heard County, above the 284 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 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	Heard County, GA	19,286	2,252	480	56
2	Haralson County, GA	19,412	5,621	615	178
3	Carroll County, GA	21,442	24,877	403	468
4	Meriwether County, GA	22,441	4,738	696	147
5	DeKalb County, GA	22,450	166,842	240	1,784
6	Fayette County, GA	22,606	25,176	297	331
7	Rockdale County, GA	22,798	20,293	370	329
8	Fulton County, GA	23,709	242,280	235	2,405
9	Jasper County, GA	23,970	3,304	530	73
10	Clayton County, GA	24,654	68,703	358	999
11	Newton County, GA	24,739	26,346	435	463
12	Gwinnett County, GA	24,967	225,281	213	1,921
13	Coweta County, GA	25,391	35,679	355	499
14	Walton County, GA	25,495	22,979	483	435
15	Cobb County, GA	25,627	190,938	252	1,881
16	Morgan County, GA	26,010	4,743	384	70
17	Spalding County, GA	26,108	16,897	658	426
18	Paulding County, GA	26,131	40,723	281	438
19	Douglas County, GA	26,535	37,637	291	413
20	Forsyth County, GA	26,826	58,986	187	412
21	Lamar County, GA	27,521	5,095	621	115
22	Cherokee County, GA	27,869	67,418	267	646
23	Henry County, GA	28,212	62,435	315	697
24	Pickens County, GA	28,519	8,793	555	171
25	Butts County, GA	28,863	6,855	682	162
26	Bartow County, GA	29,553	30,623	435	451
27	Barrow County, GA	29,842	22,945	339	261
28	Dawson County, GA	30,661	7,316	423	101
29	Pike County, GA	31,595	5,713	542	98

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