Special Report

This Is the County in the Cedar Rapids, IA Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: July 20, 2022 2:15 am

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 Cedar Rapids metropolitan area, located in Iowa, a total of 68,671 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 25,593 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 Cedar Rapids is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Cedar Rapids metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Benton County in Iowa has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 6,381 confirmed infections in Benton County, or 24,900 for every 100,000 people.

Though Benton County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Cedar Rapids metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 308 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Benton County, above the 279 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Cedar Rapids metro area.

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

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