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 Columbia metropolitan area, located in South Carolina, a total of 273,974 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 33,548 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 Columbia than they are nationwide, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Columbia metro area comprises six counties or county equivalents — and of them, Saluda County in South Carolina has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 4,076 confirmed infections in Saluda County, or 20,080 for every 100,000 people.

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

There have been a total of 384 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Saluda County, above the 289 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Columbia metro area.

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

These are all the counties in South 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	Saluda County, SC	20,080	4,076	384	78
2	Calhoun County, SC	20,159	2,966	415	61
3	Fairfield County, SC	28,038	6,368	484	110
4	Richland County, SC	32,880	134,238	235	959
5	Lexington County, SC	35,999	103,071	310	888
6	Kershaw County, SC	36,132	23,255	409	263

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