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 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metropolitan area, which covers parts of North Carolina and South Carolina, a total of 752,392 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 30,423 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 26,906 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Charlotte metro area comprises 10 counties or county equivalents — and of them, Mecklenburg County in North Carolina has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 310,872 confirmed infections in Mecklenburg County, or 29,486 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Mecklenburg County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Charlotte metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 158 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Mecklenburg County, below the 240 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metro area.

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

These are all the counties in North Carolina 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	Mecklenburg County, NC	29,486	310,872	158	1,670
2	Union County, NC	29,744	67,427	221	500
3	Lancaster County, SC	30,166	27,012	315	282
4	Iredell County, NC	30,309	52,290	281	484
5	Cabarrus County, NC	30,316	61,070	252	508
6	Rowan County, NC	31,520	44,004	428	598
7	Lincoln County, NC	31,916	25,993	226	184
8	York County, SC	32,097	83,017	267	690
9	Gaston County, NC	32,355	70,076	402	871
10	Chester County, SC	32,887	10,631	476	154

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